A middle-aged musician earns good money but lives like a pauper, eating food that is well past its "best before" date, living in darkness and taking ice-cold showers. Most of his neighbours and colleagues have learned to shun him, knowing that it is almost impossible to prise him loose from his self-imposed misery. Still, something might be moving on the genealogical front...
"Radin" is basically a feelgood "Scrooge" story, about a misanthropic miser who opens his heart under the influence of both love and shock. As a movie, it is best appreciated for its fine, talented cast and its beautiful performances. There are also some nice jokes and gags, some of them musical : this must be one of the few movies in history where Vivaldi's "Four seasons" is compressed into a running time of 12 or 13 minutes.
Sadly "Radin" suffers from over-exaggeration. The protagonist isn't just thrifty ; he's obsessed with saving and hoarding money to the point where he cuts himself off from logic, reason and normal human contact. It feels more like a psychiatric affliction than like a vice, a quirk or a character trait, meaning that it feels more oppressive and pitiful than funny. Moreover, this obsession with frugality is so all-consuming that it makes his total and sudden redemption pretty unbelievable.
But it's not a bad movie ; just a movie with a number of problems. If you watch it, be sure to watch the first few minutes closely : they're pretty funny AND unusual.
"Radin" is basically a feelgood "Scrooge" story, about a misanthropic miser who opens his heart under the influence of both love and shock. As a movie, it is best appreciated for its fine, talented cast and its beautiful performances. There are also some nice jokes and gags, some of them musical : this must be one of the few movies in history where Vivaldi's "Four seasons" is compressed into a running time of 12 or 13 minutes.
Sadly "Radin" suffers from over-exaggeration. The protagonist isn't just thrifty ; he's obsessed with saving and hoarding money to the point where he cuts himself off from logic, reason and normal human contact. It feels more like a psychiatric affliction than like a vice, a quirk or a character trait, meaning that it feels more oppressive and pitiful than funny. Moreover, this obsession with frugality is so all-consuming that it makes his total and sudden redemption pretty unbelievable.
But it's not a bad movie ; just a movie with a number of problems. If you watch it, be sure to watch the first few minutes closely : they're pretty funny AND unusual.