IMDb plot summary: A simple Italian postman learns to love poetry while delivering mail to a famous poet, and then uses this to woo local beauty Beatrice.
Directed by Michael Radford and Massimo Troisi. Starring Philippie Noiret, Massimo Troisi, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, and Linda Moretti.
Now that I've watched 100 movies from 1968, my random number generator has chosen my next year, and it has gone with 1994. I have 52 movies to watch to get to 100, so we're starting with Il Postino. The first two thirds of this movie are a charming little comedy drama, structured almost like a coming-of-age story, and then the final third takes a turn I wasn't expecting -- in what the character does with the lessons they've learned after that formative experience goes away or change. My favorite parts by far are the conversations Neruda and young Mario have about language and love and metaphors, and while I'm not as wowed by the final third, I think it is necessary. It grounds the film back in reality, where Mario lives, rather than pretending that living perpetually in the abstract is a reality for most people. It's a sweet and thoughtful movie that was a great kick-off to widening my knowledge of 1994 in film.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Il Postino > 12 Monkeys
Il Postino > Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken
Il Postino < Leap of Faith
Il Postino < Super 8
Il Postino > Taxi Driver
Il Postino < Bubba Ho-tep
Il Postino < Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Il Postino > The Grand Budapest Hotel
Il Postino > Upside Down
Il Postino > The Great Gatsby (2013)
Il Postino > Titanic
Il Postino < Roxanne
Final spot: #680 out of 3216, or 79%.
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