Everybody's Fine (1990)

STB is an Italian movie through and through - the only atypical quality being that it doesn't stink. (And that there isn't the usual amount of shouting.) This is a sort of sentimental road movie/comedy with the obligatory festival-crowd-pleasing surreal scenes, such as people freezing up at stations or a huge balloon/jelly-fish/whatever lifting up all of Mastroianni's kids up into the air. That's the sort of Felini-like stuff which IQ-starved film students go absolutely ga-ga over, regardless of whether it relates to the rest of the movie or not. "Weird stuff! Yeaaah!"As far as I'm concerned, STB isn't dull and that's all that matters. Besides, its experimental approach (if one can call it that) never has an air of pretentious baloney about it. Perhaps we have Mastroianni to thank for that, who plays it very down-to-Earth. Even when he spits out wise words of advice to his offspring there isn't that unrealistic expectation from the viewer to gasp with shock, bewilderment and awe, something very common in so many other European movies, especially from the 60s and 70s. Too many directors think they reveal the secrets of the universe in their modest little underachieving flicks. Not the case here; at least not in annoying amounts. STB is likable and even amusing at times.As for the "experimental approach", if every other movie that Italians (and other Continentals) release has the same type of surreal silliness going on, then it isn't really experimental anymore, is it? It becomes normal, unsurprising, stale even.It's far easier to cobble up a script chock-full of "metaphoric" nonsense than to actually sit down and write a compact, stirring script with a beginning, middle, and end. STB leans far more heavily toward the latter.

Giuseppe Tornatore is best known for the excellent, Oscar-winning "Cinema Paradiso," but unlike that film, "Everybody's Fine" is rarely talked about. One of my all-time favorite actors, Marcello Mastroianni (8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, Big Deal on Madonna Street), plays Don Matteo, an aging Sicilian father of five who goes on a trip throughout Italy to try and visit all of his children. This is a trip of revelation for Matteo, who believes his children to be happy and wealthy. Gradually, the truth comes down. Throughout the movie, Matteo is haunted by dreams of a beautiful Felliniesque day at a beach in which a caravan of horses are destroyed by an ominous descending black balloon that also steals his children. This isn't the only thing in the film that is inspired by Fellini, there are a LOT of things in here that echo the great Fellini's work (including a shot of a bus driving by our main character, it's passangers with their hands on the windows glaringly staring at him...GOOD STUFF).It's a very warm, sentimental film, and I thought it was quite wonderful. Legendary composer Ennio Morricone's extraordinary score fits the film like a glove.

This film should not be missed, it's an amazing job by one of the best actors, Mr. Mastroianni has shown us what acting is all about. What a wonderful story... what a wonderful film!

A delightful visual feast and cinematic event that is thoroughly recommended. A stimulating leading role from Marcello Mastroianni and a script peppered with some brilliant gentle comedy. A subtitled film that is a joy to watch.