"Il Posto" (1961)

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GoogaMooga
custodian of oldies
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"Il Posto" (1961)

Postby GoogaMooga » 24 Feb 2022, 20:13

NOW STREAMING: "Il Posto" -- (Ermanno Olmi, 1961) -- I am growing rather fond of Netflix. You can evaluate the films after watching them, by giving a thumbs up or down, and then they will tailor the film selection according to your taste. So in the beginning it was all newies, but now I get bw classics from the UK, France, Italy, etc. Especially the Italian films strike a chord with me; I love their attention to detail and their funny observations of human nature. Ermanno Olmi is an interesting director; his epic "Tree of Wooden Clogs" from 1978 made quite the impression on my 15 year old self. "Il Posto" takes us all the way back to 1961, as we follow a young man's entry into the adult world at a faceless company, where he starts at the bottom of the corporate ladder. You just know that he will be stuck there till retirement, like all the other desk jockeys who compete for trivial privileges, such as getting a desk up front. Olmi is never in a rush; whether it's a ball of crumpled paper thrown into a waste paper basket, or a flickering light bulb, he knows how to make the most of it, milking it for comedy. The office party on New Year's Eve is the highlight; as the young man loosens up after a little champagne, you sense that this is about as good as it gets for our protagonist. Life is sad, and the film only offers glimpses of happiness and merriment, but you feel okay with that, because Olmi cares about his characters.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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