Von Luft und Liebe

What a wild comedy-romance this movie is, with the emphasis on comedy. The two main characters in this Italian film are a woman whose job is to fulfill men's fantasies and a movie sound man (Maurizio Nichetti) who creates wild sound for cartoons. He, himself, at the end, briefly turns into a cartoon character! I told you this was wild and, yes, a bit absurd, but it makes it unique.

The woman, Angela Finochhiaro, isn't all that sexually appealing but she's fun to watch and she appears comfortable doing comedy. In here, she lets men do such things as pour chocolate all over her, pretend she's a holdup victim, scare her by driving too fast, watch her while she's nude, whatever, mostly crazy things.

Despite the latter, it's not a sleazy film although certainly not wholesome family material, either, but it's not sex-obsessed and there is almost no profanity. All the characters are basically nice people. It's different, and worth a look if you can find it.

The fact that Maurizio Nichetti longed to become a real cartoon was almost predictable: it was just the displaying of his intimate nature, with his resemblance to weird and funny stached little men of old movies, just like Grucho Marx (who ended up as a comic caracther in Dylan Dog's series), with impressive mimic abilities and a never ending sense of innocence and stupidity, in which the latter must not be seen negatively, but as the attitude of never gaining synchronism with the world. That's maybe the reason why he finally conquers a bi-dimensional life, just because a cartoon is a being of pure light. It is a sort of transfiguration, the achievement of a nearly godly state, that makes the meaning of this film much more complicated than one may think.

Martina has an unusual job satisfying her eccentric clients' sexual fantasies. Maurizio 'Sbaffino' (Maurizio Nichetti) spends his time collecting sounds from the world. He dubs cartoons while his brother does less innocent films with a bevy of beauties. He happens upon Martina during one of her jobs. As they connect, he's horrified to find himself turning into a cartoon as the cartoon world collides with the real world.

Maurizio has such an unique clownish look and he is a charismatic performer. Angela Finocchiaro is a sassy broad and a great partner. It's ridiculous. It's silly. There are no hot babes dubbing in their lingerie in the real world. This is simply a fun screwball comedy with a fun pair.

Well, if you like to laugh and can abandon your expectations -- this film is rather enchanting. An unconventional and creative love-story which accomplishes what it sets out to do -- move beyond expectations. Good pace, good storyline, great humor, but best of all . . . . . . . not Hollywood -- no trite or overused vehicles for the story. Give it a try -- well worth the subtitles.

Do I have to compare? With Roger Rabbitt or Mask? Please, don't! Because this great Italian film have more than Hollywood movies mixing humans with cartoons: it had cinematographic qualities, a simple but strong story, and originality. American models had only special effets. Nichetti puts his European sensibility and savoir-faire in a delightfull comedy, full of pretty funny gags (as an other viewers says, don't miss the dubbing of the blue movie!) See it again and again! It's better every time!One of the true original comedies of the 1990's.