What a nice surprise. I picked this movie during last year's "weeks of the Italian film" in my hometown's repertory cinema and went to the movie theatre. When it started, I was quite flabbergasted by its almost square picture size. That it would be in black and white I had known beforehand but I had not read about this odd antiquated image format. It took me a while to realize that the format was actually widening gradually during the story and served as a stylistic device to illustrate the slow change of the main protagonists' mindset. From this point on, I threw away my last reservations, which was not a hard thing to do because of the movie's quality in acting and telling an odd story.
Have you ever had the feeling that the world around you has become insane and that you are the only one that still has his wits about. If so then you should be familiar with the main protagonist's experience as he stumbles through a day in Rome. Hardly any reproach on him from my side for being square as some of the scenes are truly bizarre. Many of them, however, come quite close to real life or may even seem perfectly true like the compulsion of many people to share selfies or the thoughtful seriousness in behavior when having an encounter with spacy modern art.
It is mostly scenes like these, which make the movie also a fun movie, because a problem shared is a problem halved. I also could not help laughing out loud when the main protagonist accidentally meets his elderly mother on the streets, who is kissing around with her new boy-friend. The first thing she says when recognizing her son is: "Amore, hai mangiato? Oh darling, have you eaten yet?" Anyone, who has never heard this phrase from his mother despite being a grown up?
I personally do not fully go with the movie's final suggestion that opening up to the growing craziness around is the way to follow in order to avoid isolation, as it is equally important to stay critical and to remain true to oneself. Still, a clear recommendation.
