iper_figo_joseph Reviews

Invention of Love (2010)

Beautiful, inventive shadow puppet animation

[9/10 · 21 September 2012]

This film is a beautiful, poignant and creative shadow puppet style animation. If you're a fan of The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) or Tales of the Night (2012) you'll love this little science fiction gem. The main character rides in on a mechanical horse and woos a young woman, who marries him and follows him back to his homeland where everything is mechanical, run on gears, and fake.

What works so well about the movie is the intricate details and care taken to make the world look elaborate and beautiful, while using these details as an aid to the story telling, never stopping to brag about what they accomplished or show off their hard work. The end result is a smooth narrative with a stunningly beautiful visuals, a rare feat for any film and an amazing achievement for a shadow puppet style movie.

The Legend of Al, John and Jack (2002)

Italian comedy with clever twists. Comedia Italiana con una tramma ben scritto.

[7/10 · 23 April 2008]

The Legend of Al John and Jack is the story of three incompetent gangsters who, having screwed up one time too many, now find themselves running for their lives from their old boss. Not everything in this movie works, but there are a lot of parts that are hilarious. The cursed gun. Convincing the amnesiac that he's an exorcist. And of course "Frankie, we'll let you live if you can answer one question - What is the capital of Birma?" "I don't know! How should I know that?" "Frankie, Frankie, Frankie... You could have said anything and we wouldn't have known any better! No one knows what the capital of Birma is!"

Pinocchio (2002)

In defense of this movie...

[6/10 · 16 March 2005]

I have to be honest - This is not my favorite Italian film. In fact, of the three Benigni movies that I've seen, this is my least favorite. I would like to point out a few things, though -This movie follows very very very closely the book by Carlo Collodi (which I have read in the original Italian) and that is what causes most of its problems. Benigni didn't do anything more than bring the book to life in a more beautiful way than the book actually deserves. The book is quite dark, nasty, and pessimistic - not the kind of book Americans would read to their children. And yes, Pinnochhio really is obnoxious, stupid, mischievous and even a touch evil in the book. The biggest inaccuracy in the movie is that it is funnier, lighter and more beautiful than the book. So on the whole, the biggest (and probably only) mistake that Benigni made when making the movie was choosing to follow the book so closely. Had they taken a road that would have allowed them to vary the movie from the book a bit more, they wouldn't be getting so much criticism from ignorant Americans who don't realize that it was actually Disney who ruined the Pinoccio story by making it nice.