Thursday Minute
No. 170 | September 30, 2010

Late for the Show

Our theme this week
Actors with posthumous nominations for Oscars

Featured this week (theme introduction)
Monday         —   James Dean (1931-1955):  East of Eden, Giant
Tuesday         —   Spencer Tracy (1900-1967):  Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Wednesday    —   Peter Finch (1916-1977):  Network

Massimo Troisi (1953-1994):  Il Postino (The Postman)

Massimo Troisi began as a comic actor, working in cabarets, radio, and television, then started making films in the 1980s, as a director and actor.  He worked with big names of Italian cinema such as Ettore Scola, Marcello Mastroianni, and Roberto Benigni, yet at least in the U.S., few people would have heard of him had he not starred in Michael Radford’s 1994 film, Il Postino (The Postman).

Troisi plays Mario Ruoppolo, the poor son of a fisherman on a small island off the coast of Italy.  He takes a job as a postman for a single customer, famed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (the always wonderful Philippe Noiret), who moved to the island with his wife to escape political trouble at home.  Each day Mario pedals his bicycle up a steep dirt road to deliver the mail.  At first the poet has little interest in the simple, humble postman, but Mario shows great interest in Neruda and his poetry, and eventually the two strike up a friendship.  Mario, who has fallen for the village beauty, Beatrice (Maria Grazia Cucinotta), would like to have Neruda help him win her affections.  They talk about poetry and metaphors and love, and without any pretension, some of the more profound things in life.  Mario learns from the poet, and more surprisingly, the poet learns from Mario as well.

Il Postino, like Mario himself, appears simple yet is deeply affecting.  The film is filled with timeless lessons and characters not to be forgotten.  Miramax, in its heyday, promoted the movie and won it a wide audience.  At the time, it became the top-grossing foreign-language film in U.S. cinema history.

The heartbreaking tale was made even more poignant by the story of Massimo Troisi himself.  In poor health during filming of the movie, he postposed heart surgery until after the production was completed.  The day after filming wrapped, he suffered a fatal heart attack. 

The film went on to earn five Oscar nominations, with two for Troisi:  for acting in a lead role, and a shared honor for adapted screenplay.

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Il Postino (The Postman) (1994)
Michael Radford, director
Diablo Cody (screenplay), writer
Antonio Skármeta (novel); Furio Scarpelli, Giacomo Scarpelli (story); Anna Pavignano, Michael Radford, Furio Scarpelli, Giacomo Scarpelli, Massimo Troisi (screenplay); writers
Franco Di Giacomo, cinematographer
Trailer

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Il Postino (The Postman) (1994)
Metaphors

 

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Quote of note
Mario:  I can’t explain it—I felt like—like a boat tossing around on those words.
Pablo:  Like a boat tossing around on my words?
Mario:  Ay.
Pablo:  Do you know what you’ve done, Mario?
Mario:  No, what?
Pablo:  You’ve created a metaphor.
Mario:  No.
Pablo:  Yes.
Mario:  No.
Pablo:  Yes, you have!
Mario:  Really?
Pablo:  Yes.
Mario:  But it doesn’t count  because I didn’t mean to.
Pablo:  Meaning to is not important.  Images arise spontaneously.
Mario:  You mean then that—for example, I don’t know if you follow me—that the whole world—that the whole world, with the sea, the sky, with the rain, the clouds—
Pablo:  Now you can say, “etc., etc.”
Mario:  “Etc., etc.”  The whole world is the metaphor for something else?  [Pause]  I’m talking crap.
Pablo:  No, not at all.  Not at all.
Mario:  You pulled a strange face.
Pablo:  Mario, let’s make a pact.  I’ll have a nice swim and ponder your question.  Then I’ll give you an answer tomorrow.
—Mario Ruoppolo (Massimo Troisi), Il Postino (The Postman) (1994) 

…58…59…60.