Wait Until Spring, Bandini

Svevo Bandini is married with Maria and father of three sons. He's also an unemployed bricklayer who spends all his money at the pool hall, so that wife and kids won't have any presents for Christmas.

With the help of fellow Italian immigrant Rocco, Svevo gets work at the house of rich widow Hildegarde and sort of moves there, so as to avoid the mother-in-law he cannot stand.

The point is, mother-in-law is actually right, Svevo is a disrespectful cheater, good for not much and her daughter Maria could have done better, but the plot still adheres to the male point of view, so that women are either hags or desperate for male attention.

After having decamped with the widow, Svevo tries to go back home but Maria is upset and kicks him out, therefore son Arturo concocts some lies to convince his mother to take back Svevo. All of this in slow motion and mixed with Arturo's growing pain.

This movie is one you have to see. It's not the movie stars who make the movie, but it's the way it's told. Maybe a bit slow, but with much passion and know-how.

Francis Ford Coppola's name is on the screen (I think in the beginning of the movie). I have read that if Mr Coppola connects his name to a movie, it means he really likes it.

The way in which the film was made,between hope and despair, with a black and heavy atmosphere, telling a woman which accepts all from her husband by love for his children, convinced me. Ornella Mutti, which is one of the most known Italian actress, is beautiful as always in her role of wife, Faye Dunaway, older than usual, is the perfect image of the black widow and Joe Montagna gives all of himself as leading actor. In spite of the time spent between my first and only vision and my vote (more than 10 years) I always have in memory the course of the action, and that is the proof of the quality of film made by a Belgian director, and for Belgium is yet a success.

I'm not sure what I expected from Wait Until Spring, Bandini. Perhaps a heartwarming coming-of-age story with meaning, but that was setting my sights too high. I have no idea what the point of the film was. At the heart is a poor Italian-American family with a horrible patriarch, vindictive matriarch, and annoying children. Joe Mantegna frequently fights with his wife, Ornella Muti, and while on one of his benders to let off some steam, he's hanging out with his pal, Burt Young. Joe merely complains about his poverty and problems, but Burt has taken steps to improve his life: he's advertised his handyman services in the paper. He takes pity on his friend and sends Joe to take his latest work order instead to help him get some extra income. What a mistake!

It turns out, the employer is Faye Dunaway, a rich and bored widow who wants Joe to become her gigolo. Joe accepts and actually leaves his family to live in her manor house, eat gourmet meals, smoke cigars, wear expensive clothes, and never lift a finger - all the while knowing that his kids miss their father and his wife can't afford to buy simple groceries. How do we root for this guy? We can't root for Faye, either, since she knows what she's doing. We can't even root for Ornella, since the one time Joe brings home a wad of money, she throws it in the fireplace rather than buy her starving children some food. I know she's upset because of how her husband "earned" the money, but she should have sucked it up and fed her kids. Again, I'm not sure what the point of the movie was. Perhaps no one else knows, either.

This film seems well intentioned, but just doesn't give you anything but standard. The characters could've been more fleshed out. The script seems to only scratch the surface of these characters, there seems to be so much more to tell. Maybe that is because it was a novel first.

Michael Bacall's character has the best scenes, strangely Faye Dunaway and Joe Mantegna don't get given much to work with. The director Dominique Deruddere made an excellent film after this one called Suite 16 starring Pete Postlethwaite, but this one is just a bit bland.

Overall, this film has some good moments. I didn't mind watching it, but it won't stick in my mind.

6/10