Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

lasttimeisaw After the crying fiasco of PINOCCHIO (2002), it is conceivable that Roberto Benigni's next film, THE TIGER AND THE SNOW gingerly recollects a familiar thematic tack from LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL (1997), melding an amplified ode to love against a war-inflicted backdrop, and garnishing it with a plethora of poetry in the recipe. Opening with a celestial wedding ceremony between Attilio de Giovanni (Benigni) and Vittoria (Braschi), with a humble Tom Waits humming the infectious YOU CAN NEVER HOLD BACK SPRING, this surreal dream sequence will recur many times with slight variations to indicate Attilio's undying affection for her, also with a sly cue to the film's well-kept secret. In reality, Attilio is a literature professor, a divorcé with two adolescent daughters, hounding Vittoria with amour fou, after a botched date, next thing we know, Vittoria is wounded in Baghdad during the ongoing Iraq War, and the narrative concisely spirits Attilio away to the war zone where he touches base with his old friend Fuad (Reno), a poet who returns to his fatherland after years living abroad, and is experiencing his own identity crisis in the face of deep disillusion and lament, which Attilio is too preoccupied to notice before it is irremediable, an emotional punch that comes off as an offhand reprimand on a man's preference swayed by his subliminal sexual impulse. "Concise" is possibly a misnomer whether one has the stomach for Benigni's interminable wittering, not just about poetry and probably a symptom of compulsive hyperactivity, which has become Benigni's cinema alter ego (with varying degrees of the said symptom). However, what brings home in the story's "sleeping beauty" scenario, when Attilio tends to a comatose Vittoria inside a mangy Iraqi hospital, trying everything to keep her on this side of the world against a ticking clock, is the ultimate bona-fides of one's love, all in its purity and altruism, and Benigni confers it with a romantic spin which actually works even to some dry-eyed souls, it is saccharine, but still within the palatable boundary. Numerous vignettes in Baghdad range from earnest (seeking help from an elderly pharmacist), farcical (a camel and its bad breath) to topically nerve-wracking (encountering a team of nervy, trigger-happy American soldiers) or somewhere between (the minefield incident for instance), anti-war message is duly purveyed but doesn't elicit the same catharsis as in LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL mostly because of the blasé structure and curt tonal shifts. But, Benigni bequeaths us one last reveal near the finish-line when the true relationship between Attilio and Vittoria surfaces up, which encourages viewers to construe the entire movie as a radical redemption of a cheating husband, earning forgiveness from his ex-wife, with whom he is still very much in love and Vittoria's final realization is a brilliant touch, and given that a tiger and (ersatz) snow literally materialize concurrently in a prior sequence, the film reaches a satisfyingly poetic ending, if we bear in mind that Benigni has been on hiatus as a film director ever since (with only one acting job after), Attilio's exit scene could also providentially mark the valediction of Benigni's enduring screen avatar, loopy, puckish, importunate, and above all, incorrigibly romantic.

tornadojoegee Very flawed and yet fantastic fable, remarkably touching performances, especially by Benigni and Reno. I think those who have panned it missed the point - Benigni is not the greatest poet nor person; it is because he is flawed that we identify and are so moved. I particularly enjoyed the song by Tom Waits and its performance and use in the film. I did not mind the lack of political opining at all; I doubt the film was intended to further any particular political point of view. It was, however, philosophical, beautiful, romantic, and uplifting. Not quite up to the level of Life is Beautiful, but a wonderful cinematic experience in its own right.

arzewski This was a major disappointment, especially after the profound "La Vita e' Bella". Have been a great fan of Benigni for years since "Down By Law". Interestingly, the "usual suspects" are rounded up again as the same Tom Waits from that flick of twenty years ago is recruited to appear in this one in the part of a musician in a marriage. The sets are simplistic and theatrical. The characters overloaded with mannerisms that better work in theater than on the silver screen. The plot is overly centered on Benigni, as if the entire movie is only about him. There are many mini-plots that are basically recycled comedy-circuit gags (something Benigni has done plenty in Pinocchio). I am somewhat surprised that seasoned producers decided to finance this motion picture. It seems that analysts did not do a good job in measuring what audience it would address, which ends up only being Benigni fans residing in Italy. The end result is hardly an export cash cow, as La Vita E' Bella turned out to be. To gain some traction in the export market, a motion picture should have some depth in character development, which this motion picture completely lacks. A point of interest, however, is the portrayal of American soldiers and Iraqi prisoners in post-war Iraq. This could be the first fictional motion picture with such a portrait. The very young Marines are seen in a sympathetic light.

Board "The tiger and the snow" is a well-composed and well-crafted movie. I think it's truly remarkable that this movie can incorporate both comedy, drama, romance and political statements without cracking at the edges because of it. A film I saw recently, "Life aquatic", tried to incorporate drama into a comedy, which in my opinion didn't go through that well. The film was fairly funny, but the drama sequences seemed a bit detached, and there wasn't enough drama to properly care for the characters. "The tiger and the snow" gives us both a funny film, and a film where we can care for the characters. It also has beautiful and very poetic dialogue, which I only recall from classics such as "A streetcar named desire" and "Once upon a time in America". I think "Life is beautiful" is a good movie, but this one is even better!