IL POSTINO (1994)

Sweet story set back in the 1950's about a simple dude, Mario, who lives on a small Italian fishing island. He doesn't have a job since he hates fishing, but his luck changes when a world-renowned poet, Pablo Neruda, is exiled from his native Chile to the small island for being a Communist. This is a stroke of luck for Mario because now that there's somebody on the island who's actually literate enough to need a mailman to deliver his letters to him! Mario gets the job since he can read and he owns a bicycle.

Having lived his whole life surrounded by ignorant people, Mario is fascinated by Pablo. Especially Pablo's reputation for writing love poems that get women all hot and bothered. Soon enough the innocent Mario befriends Pablo and turns to him for help when he falls in love with a woman who works at a local inn. This is kinda where the film lost it for me. When I sat down to watch it I was expecting it to be a romantic film, but instead the romance part was very short-lived and instead the main story was about Mario and Pablo's friendship. There's nothing wrong with that, but I was hoping for something more, especially since the friendship between Pablo and Mario didn't seem all that strong.

Still it's an enjoyable film with a nice cast and beautiful locations. If you're into these sort of thing then it's a good watch. As for me though I'll be in my room watching CINEMA PARADISO...crying like a little bitch.