Nothing Left to Do but Cry

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.

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.

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.

Non ci resta che piangere is an amazing movie. The plot may seem a bit improvised, but that movie is much more than just an excuse for some hilarious gags. It contains all the philosophy of Benigni and Troisi, and presents all the different aspects and approach to life of Neapolitans and fiorentini personalities, away from stereotypes (as usual!). It is one of the funniest movies ever, and still, it makes me cry (maybe because I can't help thinking about Troisi, Napoli's best artist of the late XX century). It is a movie many people should see, but when I travel overseas I find it almost impossible to find in rental shops, or wherever.

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.