Today’s quick review: Macaroni. Robert Traven (Jack Lemmon), an airline executive, returns to Italy on business for the first time since his deployment there in World War II. While there, he is contacted by Antonio Jasiello (Marcello Mastroianni), the brother of the Italian girlfriend left behind years ago. As he reconnects with Antonio, he catches up with the people he left behind, discovers his inadverent legacy, and reexamines the current state of his life.
Macaroni is an Italian dramatic comedy with themes of aging, missed opportunity, and happiness. The film is driven by its two complex main characters. Robert is an American businessman who begins to doubt his career when he sees the warm, familial life he left behind. Antonio is a bureaucrat who spends his free time bringing joy to his neighbors and family. Their reunion is joyful yet bittersweet, as Robert revists a tender part of his life he had buried.
The humor is understated but natural, from the banter between Robert and Antonio to the simple pleasures in life Roberto rediscovers. The film takes a sharp dramatic turn partway through, but the drastic change still fits the tone and characters surprisingly well, and it does not detract from the earlier comedy. What little plot there is moves slowly, but Robert and Antonio are rich enough characters that it barely matters.
Macaroni suffers a lot in its translation from Italian. The subtitles handicap the performances of two very skilled actors, while poor translation into English makes the dialogue difficult to parse. The movie itself is hard to come by, as it never gained much traction in the United States. Coupled with the unusual tone, story, and pacing, these factors make Macroni an aggressively hidden gem that requires effort to truly appreciate.
Watch Macaroni if you are interested in a rare film that captures something meaningful about life. The minimal plot, translation issues, and genre swerve are enough to keep Macaroni living up to its full potential, but its amazing characters, snippets of comedy, and mountains of heart make it worth watching nonetheless. Skip it unless you are willing to stick it out for its considerable payoff.
6.4 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.5 overall as a balance between its virtues and its flaws; translation and pacing would put it lower, but individual moments score much higher.