Tickets (2005)

Directors:

Abbas Kiarostami
Ken Loach
(more)

Writers:

Abbas Kiarostami (screenplay)
Paul Laverty (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

25 March 2005 (Italy)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A train travels across Italy toward Rome. On board is a professor who daydreams a conversation with a love that never was...

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Carlo Delle Piane	...	Professor
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi	...	PR Lady
Silvana De Santis	...	Italian Lady
Filippo Trojano	...	Filippo
Martin Compston	...	Jamesy
Gary Maitland	...	Spaceman
William Ruane	...	Frank
Blerta Cahani	...	Girl
Klajdi Qorraj	...	Boy
Aishe Gjuriqi	...	Mother
Sanije Dedja	...	Grandmother
Kledi Salaj	...	Baby
Edmond Budina	...	Father
Danilo Nigrelli	...	Man With Mobile
Carolina Benvenga	...	Girl
Barry Cameron	...	Scottish Tourist
Marta Mangiucca	...	Other Girl (as Marta Mangiucco)
Irene Bufo	...	Woman in Red
Roberto Nobile	...	Ticket Collector
Mauro Pirovano	...	Ticket collector
Eugenia Costantini	...	Italian Travelling Girl
Chiara Gensini	...	Italian Travelling Girl
Maria De Los Angeles Parrinello	...	Italian Travelling Girls (as Maria de Los Angeles Parrinello)
Viviana Strambelli	...	Italian Travelling Girl
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Maurizio Tabani	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Abbas Kiarostami
Ken Loach
Ermanno Olmi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Abbas Kiarostami		screenplay
Paul Laverty		screenplay
Ermanno Olmi		screenplay

Produced by
Gianluca Chiaretti	....	line producer
Carlo Cresto-Dina	....	producer
Babak Karimi	....	producer
Rebecca O'Brien	....	producer
Domenico Procacci	....	producer
Paul Trijbits	....	executive producer

Original Music by
George Fenton

Cinematography by
Mahmoud Kalari
Chris Menges
Fabio Olmi

Film Editing by
Babak Karimi
Jonathan Morris
Giovanni Ziberna

Casting by
Genti Minga
Laura Muccino
Anna Maria Sambucco

Art Direction by
Alessandro Vannucci

Costume Design by
Maurizio Basile
Carole K. Millar

Makeup Department
Fernanda Perez	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Maria Continella	....	production manager
Shuna Frood	....	post-production supervisor
Roberta Licurgo	....	production manager
Valeria Licurgo	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Duccio Fabbri	....	first assistant director
Giuseppe Ferlito	....	second assistant director
Gaia Gorrini	....	first assistant director
Emanuele Guerrini	....	second assistant director

Sound Department
Daniela Bassani	....	sound editor
Ray Beckett	....	sound mixer
Ben Brazier	....	sound editor
Stefano Grosso	....	sound effects editor
John Hayward	....	sound re-recording mixer
Francesco Liotard	....	sound
Luca Novelli	....	boom operator
Richard Pryke	....	sound re-recording mixer
Gianluca Stazi	....	sound effects recordist
Andrew Caller	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)
Mark Kenna	....	consultant: Dolby film sound (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Ercole Cosmi	....	visual effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Leonardo Beltrame	....	electrician
Filippo D'Antoni	....	video assistant
Francesca D'Antoni	....	assistant camera
Chico de Luigi	....	still photographer
Simone Ginanneschi	....	second assistant camera
Stefano Marino	....	gaffer
Chris Menges	....	camera operator
Massimiliano Pantucci	....	camera operator
Armando Trivellini	....	assistant camera

Casting Department
William Ruane	....	casting assistant

Editorial Department
Francesco Loffredo	....	assistant editor
Federica Ravera	....	assistant editor
Jason Wheeler	....	negative cutter

Other crew
Raffaella Di Giulio	....	production assistant
Layla Mall	....	production assistant
Federica Ravera	....	editor assistant

Thanks
Chris Auty	....	thanks
Alessandro Calosci	....	thanks
Kahleen Crawford	....	thanks
Mohammad Reza Delpak	....	thanks
Loredana Detto	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Fandango
• Medusa Produzione
• Sixteen Films

Distributors

• 1More Film (2006) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Artificial Eye (2005) (UK) (theatrical)
• Cinequanon (2006) (Japan) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Facets Multimedia Distribution (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (all media)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (New Zealand) (all media)
• Medusa Distribuzione (2005) (Italy) (all media)

Special Effects

• Cine Image Film Opticals (main and end titles)

Other Companies

• Film Finances  completion guarantor
• Malde & Co.  auditors
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services

Also Known As:

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

Italy | UK

Language:

Italian | English | German | Albanian | Persian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Finland:K-7 | Australia:MA | UK:15 | Netherlands:MG6 | South Korea:12

Company:

Fandango

Goofs:

Continuity: The form of the text that the Italian pharmacologist is writing on his laptop is inconsistent between the close-up shots and the longer-distance ones: the laptop is a Windows machine, and the longer-distance show the Windows operating system, but the close-ups are of the modern Macintosh operating system.

Soundtrack:

24 preludes op.28

Thank God for Ken Loach

And thank God that his segment was last because it rescued what until then had been a dull, pointless film.

If his piece had been set at the start of the train journey, the other two sections would have seemed even more disappointing and excruciating.

I've always admired the way Loach has continued to use cinema as a means of social commentary. I don't always agree with his message particularly when it is surprisingly naive and unfounded (Bread and Roses being a prime example) but his films are always worth seeing.

Thankfully, his piece about a trio of Celtic fans travelling to Rome is the standout in this film in the same way as his contribution had been to 11'09''01 - September 11.

What had gone before it was pretty dire. First of all, there had been the story of a Roy Scheider lookalike Professor and a PR lady who inexplicably has the hots for him.

As he is about to board the train, he says to her that they have never met before even though she was with him earlier and booked the tickets! Maybe there was something going on there that I missed...

The next section involved an incredibly annoying old battle-axe, a General's widow, a man on community service who accompanies her and a whole series of boring, pointless discussions and encounters. One such encounter was between the man and a 14 year old girl he had known several years earlier that made me worry a little about where it was going.

In fact, it didn't lead anywhere at all; it was as tedious and unnecessary as the rest of that story.

Loach's work isn't one of his best but it was good enough to improve something that was pretty dreadful and leave us with a mediocre film that ended on a high note.

I would recommend skipping the first two stories altogether and just watch Loach's instead. Everything that went before it is really not worth the bother.