Life is not easy
This is the first Amelio movie to be released in the US, at least in a Film Festival setting, in over ten years since Lamerica. But the director's style is still memorable. The camera scans slowly the lost faces of the actors without pity or shame. There is no plastic, no trinkets, no nudging at the spectator. We are there watching and not, it's not really as straightforward as we'd want it. As in "Stolen Children" or "Lamerica", the main character ambles on scene, uncertain of his role in the life of others or just very mistaken. It learns--maybe, the hard way, one feeling at the time. Kim Rossi Stuart takes the place of Enrico Lo Verso, with a similar style, eyes lost and the silence prevailing over revelatory dialog, but the star is his son in the movie, Andrea Rossi There are no cheap shot. There is no need to. Piety, compassion come from something deeper, and Amelio definitely gets to the grittier level of human emotion. Charlotte Rampling has an amazing role, as the mother of young handicapped woman and the symbolic chorus for the interior dialog of the protagonist. And the dialog is pure and scary as it can be. It's refreshing to see such moving work that skillfully avoids all the traps of classic Hollywood tearjerkers. The movie reminded me rather of Kenzaburo Oe's "Teach Us to Outgrow our Madness", but it's actually inspired to Giuseppe Pontiggia's "Nati due Volte" (Born Twice), and Amelio pays homage both to the writer and the book in the course of the movie.

All the body can take
'Le chiavi di casa'(Home's keys) is an Italian movie about a father and his 15-year old disabled child. The boy can't walk properly, his arms seem permanently bent in a 90 degree angle, his upper back is slightly hunched forwards. The movie is tough, unsentimental, and all the more moving for that.

The father Gianni, has never seen Paolo, his child. The reason will be unveiled in the second half of the movie and it enables the viewer to identify with the father: we get to know Paolo at the same pace his father does. They are on a trip to a Berlin hospital dedicated to rehabilitative therapies and treatment for the disabled.

It's a journey back to a lost fatherhood for Gianni and it's shown through the physical rapport between father and son. The first time Gianni meets Paolo he doesn't so much as touch him. The boy is asleep in his train compartment. The camera doesn't show us his face. Gianni is hesitant about his role as a father and they're still strangers.

In the next 'phase' Gianni tends to Paolo, he helps him to walk, to go to the bathroom, he washes him.... Then a crucial scene comes: Gianni witnesses a therapy session. Paolo walks back and forth aided by a kind of cane on small wheels. The process is painful and Paolo suffers. It is at this moment that Gianni acknowledges his son's body as one not to be aided or 'corrected' but as one capable of suffering and therefore, of affection too. This realization culminates in a beautiful scene in which Gianni starts by arranging Paolo's hair and then kisses him and caresses him every other second as if the boy were a 'cagnolino', a little pet dog. But this is not a rosy postcard.

At the Berlin hospital Gianni meets a French lady (Charlotte Rampling) who has a severely disabled daughter, she's been tending to her every need for over 20 years. This lady has a tendency to be brutally honest without ever really being impolite, but in one of their encounters she tries to put a brave face on things when Gianni asks her how she can look so serene after all she's been through. She doesn't tell all the truth and that's a crime that an actress as talented as Rampling cannot leave unpunished, and I guess that's why Amelio wanted her for the part. The next scene is formally simple and elegantly executed and we see in Rampling's face and hear in her lines what her character has been through during all those years, how her body has also suffered.

The three main actors are great, Kim Rossi, Rampling and the kid, Andrea. Kudos to Amelio, the director.

Too subtly touching to put into words...
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This intimately beautiful DVD cover impressed me among the disc sea two years ago, which made me buy it when my cinematic experience just shifted from blockbusters to other quality films.

At that time, I hadn't the slightest idea of Michelangelo Antonioni and Charlotte Rampling, but I was rewarded by my intuition.

Following the story of an once cold-hearted, immature father united with his handicapped son whom he left at his birth, this film depicts how the father and son got along with each other during the son's treatment.

The two of them lived all by each other in a paternal tranquility during the therapy days when Nicole, Rampling's character played as a mother of a handicapped daughter, walked into their life and shared with Gianni her feelings for her daughter.

That maternal relationship, as paralleled and yet quite different from Gianni's paternal one, is crucial for the self-realization of him.

As for the title, I'm more willing to interpret it as "The keys to the Houses"---to the house of Paolo's uncle, Gianni's guilty past; to the house of the hotel, the father and son's intimate present; to the house of Gianni's, the heart-warming and happy future; most essentially, to the hearts of the father and son. It was the son's choice. It was the father's effort. They wondered between all those doors, striving for a end-result.

As soon as Kim appeared first on the screen, I knew, "right now I'm watching the (not one of) most handsome man on the earth..." (Well, that's long before Brandon Routh came up with his superman. however, they are of different categories in which they reign respectively in my opinion.) Let alone the height, Kim's face is, judging from every angle, perfectly shaped and it has the magic to draw you instantly into the picture wherever your mind is wondering. That's been proved when years later I watched Antonioni's Beyond the Clouds in which a younger Kim with long hair was already capable of imprisoning my attention.

I think one can easily understand the awkwardness you get when confronting with a handicapped child who always wears the same seeming smile whenever he's angry or sad, not to mention he's your once abandoned son.

He's immature, not knowing where his hand should put to support a handicapped child or even a healthy one; he's delicate, bursting to tears when Paolo angrily wished to be sent to his uncle; he's withdrawn, never showing too many expressions on his face except Paolo did to him something quite silly...He gave this paternal character life.

The film is elaborately made in every possible aspect. However, without obvious climax and twists and turns, this story took me floating on the calm development of the plot and yet kept me consciously touched.

Surely this is not the first film about father and son or handicapped children, but the difference this film makes is that, instead of forcing you into the emotion with dramatic acting and moving episodes, it unfolds the feelings and daily interaction of characters as subtly as possible, making the story real and exquisite, like a documentary.

That's why no tear of mine drops during watching. However, I was overwhelmed and introduced into living in the story.

Usually I will write a review of exactly the same feeling as the movie conveys, but this time I didn't. I know, as for this one, it's too subtle to put into words. I didn't want to fail.

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Do You Like To Critique Movies?

Do you love movies? Do you find yourself constantly analyzing them? Do you have withdrawal if you don’t get to see a new movie at least a couple of times a week? Do you like to critique movies?

If the answer is yes, you aren’t alone, thousands of people love to critique movies. Wouldn’t it be perfect if you could get a job as a movie critic? After all if you love movies why not do a job you love?

Although most of us might personally critique movies and share those views with family and friends. Taking the leap to a professionalmovie critic is considerably different but of course doable.

First you need to fine tune your writing skills. Your reviews will need to be compelling and interesting and it’s not quite as easy as you might think to do. ! If you want to make money as a movie critic then these tips will get you on the right track.

Start by really watching the movie with a critical eye. No longer can you be a passive participant. You need to pay attention to every detail down to the tiniest details such as positioning and props. You need to watch for stellar moments and monumental flubs. All of these elements are important to the story and how the story line comes across to the viewers. It is also critical to writing good reviews.

Don’t forget your notepad and pen because you are should be taking good notes on the important film elements. You should also note the details like actors and actresses names, producer, director, and all the other important people. Remember write only the important information that you aren’t likely to retain mentally.

Don’t spoil the film for someone else by telling them too much. You need to summarize the plot and some highlights, give your opinion and the hush, it’s time to be quiet and let the viewers get the details from viewing the film.

There is a big difference between writing and writing something that people want to read. Your movie review needs to develop the movies theme, plot, and characters. Don’t just write a hum drum boring report. Tell the tale! Either encourage viewers to see the movie and why or discourage viewers to not waste their time and tell them why. Remember your writing needs to be compelling!

When reviewing the movie remember there is no such thing as all good or all bad. You must be able to find at least one positive and one negative about every movie so do your homework.

Make sure your work is original and open minded. You’ll have to watch moves from genres that you don’t like if you plan to make a living as a movie critic. That means you need to stop yourself from automatically reviewing these movies in a negative spot light.

You are going to have to learn to tell the difference between a movie that has been done well and done bad which is completely different from liking or disliking a movies theme or genre.

Critique the movies with originality. Heck everyone says two thumbs up come with your own original rating system and your own original style for presenting the reviews. After all you want to stand out from the rest of the critics’ right?

Most importantly remember to have fun. Work that is fun isn’t work and if you enjoy what you are doing then you can have fun working. If you can’t find someone who wants to employ you then why not set up your own website and start out on your own?

So the next time someone asks where you’re from and what you’re doing. You can tell them you are from the land of movies and you’re on avacation write some great reviews and get close up and personal with some of the stars. You did say you like to critique movies right?

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