Customer Reviews

Quiet Chaos ( Caos calmo ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Italy ]

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Two middle-aged brothers - Pietro (Nanni Moretti) and Carlo (Alessandro Gassman) - play ball on the beach when suddenly two women yell for help while in the ocean. The brothers risk their lives to save the two women, only to find that the women don't even thank them. When the Paladini brothers drive back to Pietro's home, they discover that in their absence Pietro's wife has fallen and died. Pietro's 10-year-old daughter Claudia (Blu Yoshimi) is distraught and asks her father why he was not at home to save his wife. After a quiet funeral Pietro enters an existence of 'quiet chaos', neglecting his duties as a successful executive, choosing instead to sit on the bench across from Claudia's school, waiting each day in numbed silence for his daughter's completion of classes in order to drive her home. His only goal, despite various interruptions from passers-by and family members in incidents both humorous and distractingly serious, is to be there for Claudia, visible through her school window, to reassure her of his constant presence. How Pietro gradually figures out his grief, the world, and his place in it, discovering a new relationship with Claudia, forms the story line of this tender film.

Director Antonello Grimaldi, working with a screenplay adaptation of Sandro Veronesi's book by Veronesi and Nanni Moretti, draws extraordinary performances from his cast of premiere Italian actors. In an classroom scene Claudia's teacher is explaining the word 'palindrome' (a sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction) and shares with her pupils how some things are reversible while other things are irreversible. Grimaldi and his writers and actors demonstrate this term as it applies to human events in this thoughtful story. The film, in Italian with subtitles, appeals both to the intellect and to the emotions. It is a little treasure. Grady Harp, November 09

Perhaps due to the recent loss of several dear ones and the current failing of my mother, I understand the concept of quiet chaos all too well. This was a sweet film. A little slow, with several sub-plots going on while he tries to figure out his new normal after the death of his wife. And was that not a torrid little scene, or what? (smiling) Having criticized a few recent films for their too-phoney sex scenes, this one made me wonder if they were going to stop or what! I missed a couple of points along the way, as I was too taken by the reality of parking one's self somewhere and watching the world go by. Overall, a well-done film. Oh, except for the fact of the songs that were sung in English (except for the last one) despite this being a sub-titled film. I didn't think the songs fit; rather, they were distracting.

I thought this was another great film involving Nanni Moretti taking a critical look at modern life.