The ANNOTICO Report

Troisi was a handsome man with dark, expressive eyes and thick, dark hair
that he could style for comic effect.

Massimo Troisi's tetchy way with Neapolitan slang, was immensely popular in
Italy, but since it was virtually untranslatable in foreign languages
limited his world wide appeal.

Afflicted with congenital heart problems, Troisi insisted on putting off
heart transplant surgery until shooting was completed on "The Postman" (Il
Postino),  and within hours of finishing his role, Troisi died in his
sleep.

Troisi was 41, and his funeral drew 10,000 mourners

Los Angeles Times
By Kevin Thomas
Times Staff Writer
June 9, 2005

The centerpiece of the American Cinematheque's Nothing Left to Do but Cry:
The Films of Massimo Troisi is inevitably the 1995 Oscar-nominated "The
Postman" (Il Postino), which will be shown Saturday at the Aero in Santa
Monica. (The series runs Friday through Wednesday.)

One of the most popular foreign films of the last decade, it starred
Troisi, a beloved Neapolitan comic actor and director, as a simple mail
carrier on Capri. He develops an extraordinary and touching friendship with
the Nobel Prize winning poet Pablo Neruda (Philippe Noiret), then living in
exile.

By the time the film was released it had gained added poignancy because
Troisi, afflicted with congenital heart problems, had insisted on putting
off heart transplant surgery until shooting was completed, and within hours
of finishing his role, Troisi died in his sleep. He was 41.

Troisi's funeral drew 10,000 mourners, illustrating his enormous
popularity. However, the three films available for preview in the six-film
series suggest that Troisi's style and humor when directing himself does
not travel well. Troisi was a handsome man with dark, expressive eyes and
thick, dark hair that he could style for comic effect. However, his comedy
is exceedingly verbal, never a plus for subtitled fare. In all three films
he plays less-than-smart guys... ("Il Postino" was directed by his friend
Michael Radford rather than by Troisi himself.)

The series opens Friday with "The Ways of the Lord Are Limited" (1987), in
which Troisi plays a humble Roman barber who has become paralyzed after his
aristocratic girlfriend (Jo Champa) decides she should marry a more
suitable man even though she clearly cares for the barber. Set in the '30s,
the film is a beautiful period piece but slight and slow.

"The Ways" will be followed by "I'm Starting From Three," Troisi's 1981
debut film, a huge hit on home ground but particularly hard going. The
basis of its humor is Troisi's tetchy way with Neapolitan slang, and
therefore it is virtually untranslatable. He's a none-too-bright Neapolitan
who gives in to wanderlust out of boredom with his factory job. He crosses
paths in Florence with a nurse (Fiorenza Marchegiani) but is too bumbling
to express his attraction. Incredibly, this Neapolitan's aunt insists that
"We [Italians] don't talk enough" — in a film in which little else seems to
happen.

"Nothing Left to Do but Cry" (1984), which screens Sunday, costars Roberto
Benigni (of "Life Is Beautiful"), who also co-wrote and co-directed the
film with Troisi. It adds up to more wistfulness than any one film can
withstand.

Troisi plays a dim type who, while traveling with his dithery pal (Benigni)
through the countryside, experiences car trouble. The two are forced to
seek shelter for the night in a large, ancient inn only to wake up the next
morning to find themselves in the 15th century....

Screenings

Nothing Left to Do but Cry: The Films of Massimo Troisi
"The Postman": 8 p.m. Saturday
"The Ways of the Lord Are Limited" and "I'm Starting From Three": 7:30 p.m.
Friday
"Nothing Left to Do but Cry": 5 p.m. Sunday
Where: Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica

http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/cl-wk-screen9jun09,0,3760711.story?coll=c
l-movies-features