That's Life
Directed by Massimo Venier, Aldo Baglio
- comedy
The story
While on the run from the police, an unlikely companionship blossoms between a funny con man who just broke out of jail, the bumbling cop whose car he seized at gunpoint, and a nitpicking civilian he unwittingly took hostage.
What it’s like
Bright, ordinary daylight on dusty Italian roads, with the camera mostly settled into wide, easygoing two-shots that let three bickering men fill the frame. The mood is light and cheerful, a comic road trip that tilts toward slapstick whenever the chase picks up, including a bit of over-the-top helicopter-pursuit spectacle that stays silly rather than tense. The score is buoyant and folksy, and the pacing is brisk, with one gag tumbling into the next and quieter stretches where the awkward companions loosen up around each other. Its emotional register is warm and goofy, with a gentle arc about three very different men slowly becoming friends despite themselves. Intensity is low: some scuffles, shouting and fleeing, but no gore, no sexual content and no real cruelty, with any danger played for laughs. It suits a relaxed weekend evening, a comfort watch, or company on a lazy afternoon, and it's made for people who enjoy the physical comedy and rapport of a classic Italian ensemble, the Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo style.
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