The Place

This movie is simply perfect, thanks to the 2 geniuses who cooperated: the writer, Christopher Kubasik, and the director, Paolo Genovese. The story of Kubasik is absolutely original, and I think Genovese did a fantastic job as a director. The actors are awsome, the pace, the dialogs, the editing, the atmosphere are flawless. This is a must see.

The sheer fact that the whole movie is shot in a couple square meters in an anonymous diner while still keeping you engaged is alone worth a thousand stars. Top it with a subtle, emotional soundtrack and great acting and you have this wonderful piece. The plot is simple yet intriguing and smart, and the fact that a lot of details are easily predictable don't take anything away from it. The protagonist, our mysterious man, is a difficult character, lacking a name and apparently human emotion. The ending was well made, leaving just enough to the immagination.

I recommend this movie to anyone.

The Place is a vivid example of why European cinema will always be relevant. A simple tie is maximum, all the actions of the film take place in one place. Ordinary actors (perhaps in Italy they are known, but I only know Marco Giallini). And dialogues. The whole film rests on them. They are as simple as possible - everything is shot in a regular eight. Nice simple chamber story.

General impression: The movie starts in one place and ends with the very same place. The movie doesn't take us anywhere. Everything happens here and now. But despite the fact that there are no changing locations or special effects, I didn't take my eyes off the screen for a single minute, I was so immersed in the fascinating and interactive process. We are introduced to a man who sits in a cafe all the time, doesn't go anywhere, but people come to him and ask him to fulfill their desires, it could be anything: pregnancy, love, money, women, etc. But the stranger is not ready to just fulfill any coming request. To make their wish come true, each of the guests is asked to perform unusual tasks. The more difficult it is to fulfill this dream, the higher the price. Each of the heroes must make their own choice - how far are they willing to go in order to get what they want.

I kind of enjoyed The Place even though it has lots of flaws. The acting and dialogue was spot on and the story had enough twists to keep me interested until the end. The film did however have lots of problems for me. First of all the editing and cinematophy were really dull and I had a very hard time finding a motivation behind certain choices that were made. The soundtrack also didnt work for me at all. The music was very uninteresting and generic, it would probably have worked better with no music at all, or at least with some restraint. The horrible music at the end left me running away from the theatre.

In conclusion: director Paulo Genovese is good at directing his actors and keeping a story interesting like in his previous film Perfect Strangers, but the style of the film was very poor and undermined the potential of the story greatly.