I recently watched one of my all-time favorite films again.. Il postino (The Postman). I've lost count of how many times I've seen this film but it had been a while and I was up for seeing that intense, beautiful love story all over again.
Directed by British filmmaker, Michael Radford in 1994, Il Postino is based on the 1986 novel, Ardiente paciencia by Chilean author Antonio Skármeta. The film is set on a small Italian island on which the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (beautifully played by French actor Philippe Noiret) is living in exile. However, it was actually shot on a number of Italian islands including Procida, Salina and Pantelleria. Mario Ruoppolo (Massimo Troisi), a fisherman's son, is hired as an additional mail carrier mainly to service Neruda, who receives dozens of letters each day. The two begin a sweet, uncomplicated friendship. Neruda insightfully tells Mario a thing or two about poetry, and Mario tells him about his life.
(Read my interview with actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta)
Here is one of my favorite scenes when Mario inadvertently creates a metaphor after Neruda recites a beautiful poem about the sea. Just listening to those waves crashing along the shore makes me nostalgic for the sea on this cold January night.