Traveling Companion (Compagna di Viaggio)

Starring:Michel Piccoli, Asia Argento, Lino Capolicchio, Silvia Cohen, Max Malatesta, Teresa Saponangelo, Patrizia Pezza, Pier Francesco Poggi, Silvana Gasparini, Elisabetta Rocchetti, Katarzyna Waszynska, Chantal Ughi, Sebastiano Colla, Maddalena Maggi, Germano Di Mattia
Director: Peter Del Monte
Studio: Facets
Product Type: DVD

Description

International sensation Asia Argento and legendary actor Michel Piccoli star in this fascinating tale of encounter and self-discovery, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Peter Del Monte INVITATION AU VOYAGE.
Cora (Argento), an attractive, unstable girl in her teens with no stable job or home, is hired by a rich woman to follow her forgetful father (Piccoli)throughout Rome and beyond. As the old man makes pointless trips across Italy, Cora unknowingly embarks on a journey of self-discovery, dealing with past memories, and colorful encounters. Unable to deal with the old man's delirium, Cora wanders off on her own, becoming involved with various men and evading her low-life brother's plans to kidnap the old man for ransom. Lost in despair, Cora abandons the pursuit and returns to Rome, where an accidental encounter lifts her spirits.
Beautiful locations in Italy and stunning performances by Argento and Piccoli make TRAVELING COMPANION an unforgettable emotional ride.

Best Actress, Italian Academy Awards

Customer Reviews:

It helps if you're a fan of Asia Argento........2004-05-24

Okay, nobody to likes to admit it because it sounds fanboyish, but some movies work better if you're a fan of one of the actors. For some guys, performances by Natalie Portman, Mandy Moore, etc. make a bad movie watchable. For the girls (or guys, I suppose) the same goes for actors like Johnathan Rhys Meyers, Orlando Bloom, Jake Gyllenhaal, etc.

This movie sort of fits that bill, but not really. It is an Asia Argento vehicle, no doubt, but you don't have to feel guilty watching it in the same way guys who can't get enough of Jessica Alba feel ashamed to sit through "Honey." Why? Because, while this is a vehicle for Argento, and she is of course at her devastatingly hottest with her dark, wasted Mediterrenean good looks and haunting, bruise-eyed gazes, there is actually a movie of some real substance here.

The plot goes that Asia plays a 19 year old girl named Cora who works odd jobs, and leads a feckless and bohemian lifestyle in Rome. The woman whose dog she walks pays her a lot of money to follow her father, a retired college professor who may be going senile. She wants Cora to follow the old man because he is stubborn, and refuses to be put into a nursing home, and on his own, he wanders around and gets lost and confused. So if he does so, Cora follows him and calls them up so he can be safely retrieved.

Well, things take a turn when the old man start catching seemingly random buses to locations all over the Italian countryside, and Cora is instructed to follow him. She ends up being gone for days, and we're taken along on a journey of learning, growing, and understanding with the two of them as they interact with their environments.

A few people have complained that this movie doesn't have a point. I would beg to differ. The thing is, this movie doesn't wear its morals or lessons on its sleeve like many movies do. It doesn't come right out and tell you how everyone in the movie has changed, or what they are thinking, or what they've learned. That's up for you to decide through their experiences, reactions, dialogue, and body language. This movie isn't like the American television show "The Wonder Years," where at the end of each show, the narrator says "Gee, I learned a lot today, and grew a lot today, here's how." Decide for yourself. The movie, in my opinion, is not obvious about it, but neither is it hopelessly obtuse.

I'd give this movie a 7/10, but bump it up to 8 out of 10 for Asia fans. I believe it had a few problems - it could have been more tightly written, and the pacing is tricky in movies like this which engage the viewer to think more with a sparse plot heavy on characterization - but it's still a fine movie.

About the DVD and technical aspects, I wish I could be as generous. As others have said, a lot of the translating and subtitling is, to be frank, not good. There are pretty much no notable extras to this movie, but that's understandable given its limited audience.

Perhaps most unforgiven is

*Spoilers Ahead*

When Cora finds a picture of herself the old man took that he had slipped into her belongings. On the back of it he wrote a message, and the people subtitling the movie DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO SUBTITLE THE MESSAGE. That is really unforgivable. If it helps anyone out there, I've taken 4 semesters of Italian, and I'm 99% sure it says "For my traveling companion." The problem is that the handwriting on the back of the photo is quite bad, so it's difficult for me to read and be 100% certain. Anyway, I hope that helps anyone who was wondering.

**End Spoilers**

So in conclusion, I'd recommend this movie if you like low-key foreign films, and especially if you're an Asia Argento fan.

A wast of plastic.......2003-12-30

I strongly suspect that this was a dog even in Italian. But for certain, it's terrible with subtitles. Spelling and grammar errors lead me to believe it's probably a bad translation. I was unable to detect any "voyage of self discovery" here, and I also can't see that Asia Argento deserved any award -- she just acted like a spoiled 19yo as far as I could see.

Don't waste your time or money.

DVD:

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