Il Postino-DVD

Il Postino (1995), Dir. Michael Radford.

A nice "feelgood" film. For anyone wanting to make a foray into the world of foreign film, this is a nice choice. Director Michael Radford gives us a sweet look at a young Italian islander who seems to be a bit lost in life. Since the traditional fisherman's way of life is obviously not for him, he's a misfit in a small town. He forges a friendship with the town celebrity, Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet who was exiled from his home country for being a communist.

One of the wonderful things about this film is the casting. Radford opts to go in a pseudo-Neorealist direction and choose actors that look like everyone else. They are not particularly ugly or beautiful, but each is endearing in their own way. Through this, Radford is able to allow his characters subtle glances, smirks, and touches. They don't need to explain what's going on; it's written on their faces. They present themselves openly, as people that are fully dimensional on this remote island.

The film seems to meander around the idea of the metaphor quite a bit, as if this is the key to everything, and maybe the film is a gigantic metaphor itself. However, it seems easier to not get to worked up about the whole idea, because the film is really about the people and their interactions with one another.

It's nice to see a director choose simplicity as a main theme. There aren't any special effects, or glitzy camera movements. He even manages to keep the profound monologues to a minimum, thus avoiding the haughtiness that so many directors seem to love. However, this film seems simple to a fault. There's no real deep meaning, the characters aren't terribly complex, and the ideas are fairly straightforward. But I'd rather see a film that errs on the side of simplicity than one that falls over itself trying to make some sort of idiotic yet allegorically profound point.