Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Kirpianuscus not beautiful or great or touching. only special. for each detail. for the dialog. for the clash between two different people who are, basically, the same. for a not usual love story under dictatorship. for a picture of a small universe in the right nuances. it is difficult define A Special Day. because in its case important is only the feeling after its end. subtle, bitter, discreet. one of the most powerful films about dictatorship. and about the need of the other. the meeting between Matroianni and Loren has new fascinating nuances. and that is the genius' mark of Scola - to define, in simple manner , at the first sigh, a period. that simplicity, that profound and cruel and delicate and convincing simplicity transforms the film in special one. the dialog becomes axis not for revelations but for precise diagnosis of a strange form of miracle out of the circle of solitude. short. but essential. because, like each special film, A Special Day is a film about its public.

Yaiza Just loved it. A bit tired of the so called Italian comedies, where overacting is the rule and characters are way too close to parody, I found in this movie the necessary counterpoint to that kind of easy, predictable cinema which is so popular. So popular that even Mr Mastroianni and Mrs Loren are better know for their roles in any of those movies than for their amazing performances in a little jewel like this one. Because that's what this film is: a little jewel. Simple and discreet, yet complex and rich. The plot is quite straight forward, but that's not the point. What's important here is not the story in itself, but the way it's told. Behind the rough appearance, a lot of technical thinking, ideas, decisions. Beautiful performances, studied photography, surprising soundtrack: nothing is left to chance here, though it might seem so. That's what makes masterpieces so special: they look light but they are loaded with humanity. PS- Loved also the comment by the self declared Art Barbarian. At least the guy's aware of his condition! Mamma mia

raraavis-2 While Rome goes mad celebrating Hitler's visit - uniforms, bands, parades - two outsiders stay home, in a large building, and wind up meeting. She is Sofia Loren, who is the wife of brutish public servant and mother of six children. He is Mastroianni, a radio speaker who's been fired because of his homosexuality. Both of them need company and understanding, both f them find it in each other.The movie covers a span of a few hours. The color are faded and everything takes place with a sound track of military marches and hysterical radio announcers. Strangely enough, the Nazi anthem - the Horst-Wessel-Lied - ends up becoming a romantic musical theme.Beautiful movie, excellent recreation of a special era in Italian history and a touching, sad story. Mastroianni is as good as we have come to expect and Sofia Loren does a superb job, very far away from her usual truck driver's pin-up, Neapolitan fishwife personas. Don't miss it.

MARIO GAUCI I had intended to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Marcello Mastroianni's passing with numerous unwatched films of his that I own on VHS; however, given my ongoing light-hearted Christmas marathon, I had to make do with just this one! As it happens, it features one of his best performances - and he was justly Oscar-nominated for it (with the film itself being likewise honored). This was also one of 14 collaborations with that other most widely-recognized star to emerge from Italy, Sophia Loren; both, incidentally, are playing against type here - she as an unglamorous housewife and he a homosexual! By the way, the film's title has a double meaning: the leading characters are brought together on the historic day in which Hitler came to Italy to meet Mussolini (the event itself being shown in lengthy archive footage), but it more specifically refers to the stars' 'brief encounter' in which they share moments of friendship, revelation and, briefly, passion - though each knows that a return to their normal existence is inevitable, which leads to the film's abrupt bittersweet ending. This is virtually a two-hander (with all other characters - save for the nosy concierge of the apartment block in which the story takes place in its entirety - which include Loren's gruff and fervently patriotic husband, surprisingly played by John Vernon, appear only at the beginning and closing sequences); still, the cramped setting doesn't deter director Scola (for the record, this is the 7th film of his that I've watched and own 3 more on VHS) and cinematographer Pasqualino De Santis, so that the result - though essentially low-key - is far from stagy: the camera is allowed to prowl the various sections of the large building, observing the proceedings intimately or dispassionately as the situation requires, but always keenly.The narrative, of course, depends entirely on the performances of the two stars for it to be convincing, and they both deliver (their on-screen chemistry is quite incomparable); it's interesting, however, that while Loren walked away with the prizes in their home turf, it's Mastroianni's moving yet unsentimental outsider (the film, somewhat dubiously, does seem to equate his sexual deviance with Anti-Fascism!) who generally impressed international audiences!