Customer Reviews

Days [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

DAYS ("GIORNI") is a well crafted Italian film by writer/director Laura Muscardin about present day relationships in a segment of our poplulation we infrequently view. Claudio is an AIDS patient of 10 years, living an apparently normal life as a working, commited executive, keeping his activities monitored by the small alarm on his medications case. Much of this film focuses on Caludio's compulsive medical visits and self care in a brave life maintained with the latest AIDS medications. He is in a longterm relationship that has grown as regimented and predictable as his medication timer...until his eyes engage a young waiter (Andrea) with whom he eventually, if carefully, enters into a passionate love affair. The new couple enjoy the highs of new love despite the warnings that Claudio is HIV+ and Andrea is HIV-. The disease is discussed but Andrea elects to ignore prophylaxis. This thrilling but perilous affair eventually ends when Claudio feels he can no longer accept the fact that he is a 'doomed man' and leaves all his past behind - home, new and old lovers, family, friends. The fallout from this decision brings the film to its close - reality steps into the forefront. Though the theme of this beautifully photographed and directed story is depressing, the actors create moments of some of the tenderest aspects of love. Thomas Trabacchi as the HIV+ Claudio and Ricardo Salerno as his beautifuly naive new lover Andrea give pitch perfect performances. The film deals with AIDS in a very sophisticated way, showing the interplay between doctor and patient as well as any film has done. Highly recommended - just don't be mislead by the cover of the DVD which leads you to think this is either a comedy or a light love story.

I was a bit nervous about watching this film. I am one of those folks who is as anti-'barebacking' as you can get. Maybe I approached it with a more open mind because I recently experienced my first significant 'slip' in my own behavior.

Structurally, this is a very good movie. The acting is solid, the pace steady, the filming quite good. The story is solid and well told.

This film does not operate with an open agenda. We hear various characters voice a variety of opinions and judgements, yet we also get a clear view of the protagonist's confusion, desire for change, wish to escape. A variety of tools are used to show as how time can control us, define our expectations and behaviors, and, how we sometimes want to escape that. The consequences are clear.

With the recent publicity around 'bug chasers,' this film is as timely as can be. It limits the emotional perspective to the character who has long known and treated his HIV infection. The man whose status is assmumed to be negative states his motivations, but these are not explored in depth. This is not a weakness in the film, but a strength, as it keeps the focus on the main story.

The fact that the director accepts this limitation makes this film all the better, it makes it entertainment as opposed to sociology. I never felt lectured. Instead, I cared about the characters, all of them. Somehow, in the meantime, I came to understand myself a little better. And to be a little less harsh in my judgements. I still hate barebacking. But I better understand slipping, and also how I can recognize the triggers and avoid them for myself.

The film starts out with Claudio and Andrea making out in the car. It is their first time together. Claudio has a lover he has been living with for some time. They mutually decide not to live together anymore. Claudio finds out he is HIV-Positive. Still he continues to make friends. While Andrea wants to be firends with him and see him again, he decides to tell Andrea he is going on a long trip. He tells others that too and people close to him. The one man he was with the night in the car, he really begins to like. One night, he goes back to see Andrea. A neighbor tells him he is not ta home, but this is where you can find him. He does, and they have a sudden urge of passion, kissing and undressing madly. In the bedroom, Claudio suddenly tells him "He can't'". Without a condom, Andrea decides "It doesn't matter". This is just the start of the film. Very well made Italian film. I have never seen an Italian film quite like this one before. Not as emotional as it could have been. Played pretty straight. But, man, can the Italians show passion between two men. This DVD includes English subtitles.

Plot/storyline have been much discussed in earlier reviews here. And, yes, this is a film about "living with Aids," how it can in some ways "robotize" one's behavior, cut one off and harden one in his/her interactions with others.....and Trabacchi (as Claudio) is excellent in showing us every facet of such a "throwaway" man (for in the end he does just that). However, I am more interested in another of the players.........the one who shoves in our faces the purity and certainty of simple love: Salerno (as Andrea). He gives such a pure performance that we come face to face with a love so strong that it overpowers any thought of self-danger.......so strong that it overpowers wisdom and any sense of self-preservation.

Practically every other review and comment seems to focus on Trabacchi, yet never in memory have I encountered a male performer who can telegraph the emotion of love more intensely than Salerno; his eyes seem to be that proverbial door to the soul. Repeating, never have I seen pure love transmitted more powerfully than through this man's eyes and facial expressions (would that many of us ever have been able to have had a love such as his). What he is feeling is projected so strongly that your need is to reach through the screen, grab, and tightly hold him.

I guess I will never be able to understand Italian directors, producers and viewers......for Salerno's film work after this production seems to be nonexistent. How can that be? Yet Trabacchi's follow-on films are numerous, but while his performance is excellent, he displays nowhere near the emotional power radiated by Salerno (should someone admit to a "crush" in here, somewhere?).

So, if you want to see a film about a man none will consider smart, yet a man who would give you unflinching love that you would never doubt, then see "Days." And see the love that Claudio handled disastrously............how would you?

I feel compelled to review this movie. I bought it on the recommendations of earlier reviewers but my experience with this film was not as positive as theirs.

First of all, I simply did not like the main character. I think the movie was trying to convey some kind of idea that, because of his HIV status, he felt he was authorized to dump on his present partner and take up with Andrea. That's the first problem.

I also had a problem with the way that he treated Dario, his sister, his mother, and eventually Andrea. He was generally a dislikable fellow.

My bigger problem with this film is that parts of it just didn't make sense. For example, Claudio's conversation with Dario about his involvement with Andrea was either badly written or way too edited. It didn't flow, didn't make sense, and concluded in a way that the preceding events didn't suggest or support. There were several scenes that didn't flow right. They felt rushed.

Finally, the scene where Andrea is sick and the end of the movie felt manipulative and unrealistic.

There are good things about this movie (other than seeing Andrea's smile) which include the acting, the technical quality of the film, and the fact that it had that European flair. Get it on Netflix - can't recommend it as a purchase (even though I bought it).

This movie was slow and depressing. It's not about the triumph of the human spirit, it's about how truly mean lonely self-absorbed people can be. This is the type of realism I can do without. In the final analysis there was a point to this movie, and without spoiling it, well, the point is offensive. I've witnessed too much real love and courage to pretend that this movie has any kind of meaningful voice.

I do not mind the unclear motivations of some of the main characters or the questionable choices they made. This is a movie, and moviemakers have the freedom NOT to satisfy all my expectations, which I like. Although some of what happened was hard to take, the best parts of this movie far outweigh the darkness.

Several months ago I read how hard it is to get straight Italian actors to play gay roles, but whoever wrote that must not have seen this movie. All the main actors, most of whom I assume are straight in real life, played these gay roles with such dedication and fire that it puts American gay movies and American actors (gay and straight) to shame.

I have hardly ever seen on screen such intense and wholly believable passion as explodes between Caudio and Andrea in this movie. That passion alone explains to my satisfaction everything they did later, and I will rush to defend and recommend ANY movie that puts such passion between two men on film. I drank it in like water in a desert.

Days asks the question repeatedly and in the end doesn't do what some films like it have done. There is no happy ending, no riding off into the sunset, in short there are no pat answers. Much like life.

The film lays before you the life of a man who is HIV infected who has been strict with himself when it comes to his treatment. Then along comes someone with a free and open spirit who takes life as it comes, even if it means getting infected. It's not the result he's interested in so much as the journey.

Days doesn't ask you to like the decsions or even agree, it just asks you to watch. It effected everyone who sees it in different ways for different reasons.

Days is nicely produced and acted but diminished by its plot. It takes an unusual twist on a somewhat familiar storyline, which is admirable. Unfortunately, the film fails to explore the motivations behind its characters. Also, it doesn't sufficiently connect the protagonist (Claudio) with the other characters--too much about their relationships is left unexplored. This film is worth viewing; just expect to think that it's beginning as the credits start to roll.

It is a movie that show loves between a male couple that
is together for a long time. One of the partner is
having an affair with a cute waiter .. they falled in love
for each other, one partner was honus about his HIV status
and the other guy was so in love & passioned that he did not
care ... I will not tell you the end of the story ..
Great movie with great actors and it treat a tough subject.