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THE SALT OF LIFE (GIANNI E LE DONNE)Movie Reviews
Italian language comedy about a married middle-aged retiree who feels unnoticed by women and tries to generate an extramarital love life. Cast:Gianni Di Gregorio, Valeria De Franciscis, Alfonso Santagata, Elisabetta PiccolominiDirector:Gianni Di Gregorio, Murat DuzgunogluRelease Date:March 2, 2012DVD Release:September 18, 2012From:ZeitgeistLength:1 hr. 30 min.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2012
The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne), Very Good Reviews Key Cities
The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne) played in key cities to very good reviews. • Steven Rea wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer, "Imbued with gentle humor and a kind of bittersweet resignation..." • And Marc Mohan wrote in the Portland Oregonian, "...maintains the same Chianti-dry wit that made Gianni Di Gregorio's previous film such a pleasant diversion." More Reviews Below...
The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne) Positive Reviews (25 Reviews, reviews below)
Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a movie about a man who is past his shelf life. Sooner or later, he'll end up sitting in front of that cafe with the other guys. He knows it. He even tries it one day."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 655 words, 03/30/12
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Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune: EXCELLENT "Rueful, funny and wise... A warm yet melancholy film of quiet yet inescapable charm, it has a feeling for character and personality that couldn't be more delicious."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 655 words, 03/09/12
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: MODERATE(cg) "...pleasant but barely there comedy would hardly be worth mentioning if it weren't the follow-up to the slightly meatier 'Mid-August Lunch'..."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 343 words, 03/09/12
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a movie about a man who is past his shelf life. Sooner or later, he'll end up sitting in front of that cafe with the other guys. He knows it. He even tries it one day."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 655 words, 03/30/12
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD "...conveys the longings of a flâneur with yet-young eyes, clinging to the right side of the divide between late middle-age and true senescence..."(See all of Nick Pinkerton's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 226 words, 02/29/12
Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: VERY GOOD(cg) "If Gianni Di Gregorio's wryly charming family comedy 'Mid-August Lunch' was the main course, the Italian writer-director-actor serves up a sweet dessert with 'The Salt of Life.' "(See all of Linda Barnard's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 567 words, 04/06/12
Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Though you can empathize with Gianni's loneliness, the lecherous buffoon is too much of a stock type to feel fresh. At times, the comedy is shamelessly broad."(See all of Liam Lacey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 666 words, 04/06/12
Glenn Sumi, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...a very European midlife crisis movie (nobody blinks at the idea of his pondering an affair) with little plot and no real big laughs."(See all of Glenn Sumi's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 226 words, 04/05/12
KEY CITIES (8 Reviews)
Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: MODERATE(cg) "It feels as if Di Gregorio spent so much time painstakingly painting the cruelty of the peripheral female figures that he forgot to add any dimension to the protagonist."(See all of Stephanie Merry's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 530 words, 04/27/12
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a wistful portrait of a man in the throes of a later-than-midlife crisis... Imbued with gentle humor and a kind of bittersweet resignation..."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 299 words, 04/06/12
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: VERY GOOD(cg) "...like a postscript to Truffaut's domestic comedies as Gianni, age notwithstanding, continues to wrestle with selfish immaturity and emotional impulsiveness."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 160 words, 04/27/12
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...ambles along the line between comedy and melancholy... The film's Italian, so the food and the women are beautiful, ripe, overabundant."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 538 words, 03/16/12
Walter Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: VERY GOOD(cg) "...full of low-key but telling observations... Di Gregorio's background is in theater and screenwriting (he was among co-writers of the crime drama 'Gomorrah')..."(See all of Walter Addiego's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 382 words, 03/30/12
Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "Di Gregorio has a sympathetic and hangdog-funny presence throughout. But he captures the creeping disorientation to life that comes, inexorably, with time."(See all of Tom Keogh's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 272 words, 04/06/12
Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: MODERATE(cg) "...attempts to convince us that there's something incredibly charming about an old guy who makes a habit of ogling young women.... the whole scenario is pretty creepy."(See all of Calvin Wilson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 323 words, 04/20/12
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (7 Reviews)
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD "...conveys the longings of a flâneur with yet-young eyes, clinging to the right side of the divide between late middle-age and true senescence..."(See all of Nick Pinkerton's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 226 words, 02/29/12
Gerald Peary, Boston Phoenix: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...deftly sprinkles wacky humor in with the melancholy, and Gianni Di Gregorio is a winning talent, both as the amusing star actor and as the film's co-writer and director."(See all of Gerald Peary's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 111 words, 03/15/12
Alison Willmore, AV Club: VERY GOOD(cg) "The breeziness of 'The Salt of Life' disguises a barbed consideration of mortality and being written off, becoming part of the scenery in later life..."(See all of Alison Willmore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 413 words, 03/01/12
Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline: EXCELLENT(cg) "On the surface, 'The Salt of Life' may seem like a movie made just for old folks. The trick is that it really is about the youth that stays with you..."(See all of Stephanie Zacharek's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 891 words, 03/02/12
Bill Weber, Slant: WEAK(cg) "...a bland stew of postmenopausal-male sexual lethargy... early-retiree Roman everyman (director-co-writer Di Gregorio) is characterized by sexless suspension."(See all of Bill Weber's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 409 words, 02/26/12
Glenn Sumi, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...a very European midlife crisis movie (nobody blinks at the idea of his pondering an affair) with little plot and no real big laughs."(See all of Glenn Sumi's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 226 words, 04/05/12
Mark Jenkins, NPR: VERY GOOD "Aided by fluid handheld camerawork from cinematographer Gogo Bianchi, Di Gregorio conjures a Rome that's homey and literally warm, with just a hint of Fellini-like frenzy."(See all of Mark Jenkins's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 531 words, 03/01/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "Rueful, funny and wise... A warm yet melancholy film of quiet yet inescapable charm, it has a feeling for character and personality that couldn't be more delicious."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 655 words, 03/09/12
MOVIE INDUSTRY (4 Reviews)
Jay Weissberg, Daily Variety: GOOD "...blows fresh air around a topic long made banal by less sincere helmers... boasts the same feel for real people, making it stand out in a field of overblown Italo comedies."(See all of Jay Weissberg's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 661 words, 02/12/11
Natasha Senjanovic, Hollywood Reporter: EXCELLENT "A timeless comedy about aging, for all ages.... Di Gregorio again plays his own alter ego, and gives us another deceptively small, vaguely autobiographical story..."(See all of Natasha Senjanovic's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 801 words, 02/11/11
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "Rueful, funny and wise... A warm yet melancholy film of quiet yet inescapable charm, it has a feeling for character and personality that couldn't be more delicious."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 655 words, 03/09/12
15.2 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne)'s reviews are separated by an average 15.2 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne) (25 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne)'s reviews cover 24.9% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 11,145 words involume (average is 20,172 words). Length:The film's reviews average 446 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne) Coverage, Volume & Length (25 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 20.5 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne)'s reviews on average broke 20.5 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne)'s opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
The Salt of Life (Gianni e le donne) (25 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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