Che ora è?

I think both men and women at the screening I attended identified with at least one of the main characters. Mastroianni and Troisi complement each other perfectly in this honest portrayal of a parent whose grown son is a stranger. It's a shame this was never widely seen in the US.

More than a film, this movie is a sort of long theatrical dialogue. The two protagonists practically monopolize all the scenes and there are very few supporting actors. Mastroianni and Troisi positively impressed me. Certainly, they were two great actors, but together they represented an unknown. And yet the movie works. Perhaps because they were so distant from each other, they also well represented the distance that can exist between father and son. The movie is all about this: a long (non) dialogue between them, about life, death, family, and human relationships in general. In short, a beautiful movie, to which I want to give a very high rating. I have included it among those that I have appreciated the most. I also want to give credit to the director Ettore Scola, because the risk of "monotony" was very high. And yet, I was not bored at all.

Massimo Troisi is known abroad mostly for "Il Postino" and in Italy is remembered especially for his first comedy films but also the ones who appreciate him have never seen this movie and that's a shame 'cause here we see one of the best Troisi's performances where we can enjoy his talent as a dramatic actor not "just a comedian" (expression used by some, but we cinephiles know that real comedians are the best actors ever, just to name another Neapolitan like Troisi: Totò). For the third time Massimo doesn't work as a writer or director as in all his previous films - the first was in "Hotel Colonial" by Cinzia Th. Torrini then "Splendor" always by Ettore Scola (there will be another last one from this "trilogy" Scola-Troisi, "Captain Fracassa's Journey"). Then there is Marcello Mastroianni, just one of the greatest Italian actors of all time. This film an intimist trip of something never too much analyzed in the world of the seventh art: the father-son relationship. Here, as in the real world, upside down sometimes, quarrels and conflicts of two generations, everyone can identify itself in the two figures, one or the other during the viewing. Marcello and Massimo seem so natural like a real father and son. They received together "Volpi Cup for Best Actor" and Troisi also a "Pasinetti Award for Best Actor" at Venice Film Festival. No need for other actors, just a few, the right frame of this wonderful portrait. Grazie Ettore Scola.

I don't know what paradise looks like except: there surely will be a cinema in it, and "Che ora è" will be playing on a giant screen, in original Italian, I will be able to speak Italian and manage to sneak in for free because the beautiful box office girl fancies me.

But mainly there will be "Che ora è?" playing.

"Che ora è?" is a great minimalist movie, since it makes you feel the love, and in the same time the disease between a father and a son through simple attitudes, and words ("what time is it?"!!). And such feelings can make you suffer - but a little bit, but in a light way - since they are true. Marcello Mastroianni and Massimo Troisi are so perfect playing their parts, that you may believe Marcello to be your father and Massimo to be your son. It's a shame this is not one of the most famous movies by Ettore Scola, also in Italy.