Nothing Left to Do but Cry

Roberto Benigni and Massimo Troisi are two of the most important Italian comedians of their generation, who ended up being recognized internationally with their masterpieces, "La vita è bella" by Benigni (1997) and "Il Postino" by Troisi (1994), the latter consecrated after his death.

Until they reached the pinnacle of their careers, they went through a series of films where, assuming the role of comedians, they made funny comedies, but of limited content. It's a bit the fate of comedians, to make the public laugh until they finally get autonomy and courage to make a serious comedy, where the laughter is poetic and the wit is intelligent. These two ended up making it and getting the right recognition, which doesn't always happen.

In this four-hand project, the script is weak and even the comedy, with some amusing moments, relies more on the improvisation capacity of the two actors than on situations or previously written dialogues. Above all, it is worth by the natural grace of these two clowns, of unique quality, who are always a pleasure to see perform.

The comedy is not bad, but I wouldn't call it a good one, whatever you say. Maybe I missed something, while trying to follow the Naples and Toscany accents and reading subtitles in proper Italian (that weren't word for word translations), but it seemed really average to me.

The humor is unequal, though, some things are really funny, while most of the movie felt boring. The low budget Italian film feeling also didn't help, reminding me of those horrible "Princess dresses in boy's clothes and saves her magical cardboard kingdom" films, if you know what I mean.

The movie was recommended by an Italian friend of mine, and he is not stupid, so maybe being Italian helps a lot with this film.

A real masterpiece by Benigni and Troisi. The plot is very simple and there are no special effects. However, what earns this book a place in history books is the outstanding acting performance of these two comedians. You can see from the beginning that most of the sketches are improvisations; their acting is so natural and clean. The reason why it did not gain international recognition is because it cannot possibly transmit the same emotions with with subtitles. Translation becomes nonsense in a movie that is so culturally-bound. I wish I could recommend it to everybody, but I must say that you really need to understand Italian plus some Neapolitan and Florentine dialect in order to appreciate it in its entirety. Besides, you also need to know a little bit about the culture and history of Italy. In Italy, this was, is and will always be an outstanding piece of art.

Sadly, the only occasion we had to see together two of the best italian actors of the century: Benigni and Troisi. Anyway, it's a comedy: there's nothing else to do, but laugh.

I like the Italians, most of all, but I do not like Massimo Troisi and Roberto Benigni, for me are the most annoying actors ever. Troisi, you do not understand what he says, in all the films he speaks in a kind of dialect that only he understands. In all the movies is the same, boring at the top. You got to have a great deal of steel patience and great love for cinema to watch this movie in its entirety. Troisi and Benigni, who are also directing, are not genius and are not funny at all.