Ordinary Happiness

Seductive for humor and good intentions. For the perspective about life and for cliches,too. For Renato Carpentieri and convincing portrait of Paulo made by Pif, remembering the characters of Roberto Benigni. So, for acting and for profound Italian spirit.A nice comedy about meaning of life. Far be great but the ginger taste is just a virtue in this case.

Very nice movie, liked it a lot, it really touched my heart.

This movie makes me realize how often I take everything and everyone in my life for granted. Great movie!

The opening of this movie struck me visually. I saw in those early scenes a very genuine interpretation of ascencion to an ethereal life.

After that, as the theme bagan to shape up, Tornatore's "A Pure Formality" and Warren Beatty's "Heaven Can Wait" came to mind.

And then... Well, hard to put a finger on the problem, but something began to malfunction with the whole experience. It just didn't flow. Scenes stopped making sense after a while. I got the feeling that I might have missed some crucial detail on the technicality with the protaganoist's particular condition. If so, it was on me. But still, the pace and the visual technique did not add up. How the 92 minutes was to be used or distributed seemed to lack any kind of logic, which defeats the whole narrative from the perspective of a "make believe" approach. On top of that, the crackling voice of the protagonist began to annoy me.

As I was watching it on Rai1, I got on IMDb during the commercial breaks to check the score and the comments. And quite strangely for a movie of 5.7 over 1300 votes, almost all the reviewers had given it straight 10s with short and strong recommendations. Gives the feeling that the crew and/or the writer of the source material has a devout fan base. Confusing for me as I enjoy it when movies manipulate the audience from the inside rather than by means of brain hacking via social influence.

My overall feeling is that there is some missed opportunity with this one. No doubt the people involved have tried hard on certain scenes, but an all-encompassing directorial approach seems to lack. Come to think of it: that lacking element was exactly what made Amelie Poulain something above and beyond a movie, a manifestation of French culture + a variety of fresh cinematic innovations.

The observations of the protagonist in the opening scenes had given me a similar vibe, alas... The beginning and the ending kept it kinda cool, but I got the feeling there was some great void and confusion amids the story.

Could this one be as great as the one centered around Amelie Poulain? A movie that explored life in a witty and entertaining way through the lens of Italian culture?... Who knows... All I can say is, its current state is way below that of Amelie's.

During the lockdown I watched a lot of movies to catchup with the modern films. With all the available time in the world I was looking for something light yet funny. This was a very surprising movie for me. I didn't hope for much but in the end I was satisfied with the story, the comedy and acting. Best of luck.