Not THAT Goodlooking..

Rating: Null/10 (18 November 1998)

Saw it. Didn't knock me out. Think the piece ramps up nicely UNTIL arrival at the camp, at which point the momentum falters. In fact, let's do the math:
*Cute Kid Gimmick (everybody knows the drill) is not enough to carry as much "weight" as it winds up supporting
*Nice Benigni visual sequences BEFORE he is deported not as interesting after, save the German-Italian translation bit
*cinematic/content integrated interiors disconnect without significant purpose
*Romantic thread starts nice... ...but really doesn't resonate (again, all after the deportation)
Not a waste, but also not the home-run I expected.
Wait, one more thing-the camp was not particularly threatening. He tells The Kid a tall-tale, but there is no perspective chosen at all. Tell it from The Kid's POV so we can see it with innocence while imagining the horror the tall-tale is covering up, OR show the brutal limits of the father's reality AND the scenes in which he reshapes it for The Kid. Instead we get middle-of-the-road with no reference point to make the story really ring.
Call me the Script Doctor.