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Rating: 
Summary: Incredible
Review: Ermano is one of my favorite Italian directors. The whole movie is really great. Ermano Olmi is one of the few directors that can take a plain story and make it more interesting than the biggest hollywood film. Just as long as you don't think like the average big hollywood production viewer. I love how this film starts and I love how it ends. Some incredible cinematography. Especially with the scene in the beginning where the main character is walking through the factory with the tarantella music playing in the background. Another great part of the film is the street party in Sicily. It amazes me how Ermano Olmi was able to direct the scenes so perfectly with such a tight large drunken crowd.
Rating:
Summary: Simple Yet Gorgeous
Review: I had never even heard of Olmi before getting this film, which is odd since I've been exposed to many other italian postwar directors. Therefore, I FIDANZATI (The Fiances, or The Engaged) came as a complete surprise to me. The storyline, sometimes slow and wonderfully hypnotic in places, centers around the life of a construction worker who takes a job in Sicily and moves away from his fiance in northern Italy. It's the classic romantic "abscence makes the heart grow fonder" storyline that is usually trite and banal. But somehow, amazingly, Olmi manages to pull it off, mainly through the great performances of the two leads and the brilliant editing towards the film's conclusion, where they read letters and thoughts to one another in a way that distorts past, present, and future. Highly recommended, as is Criterion's new editon of Olmi's IL POSTO.
Rating:
Summary: Simple Yet Gorgeous
Review: I had never even heard of Olmi before getting this film, which is odd since I've been exposed to many other italian postwar directors. Therefore, I FIDANZATI (The Fiances, or The Engaged) came as a complete surprise to me. The storyline, sometimes slow and wonderfully hypnotic in places, centers around the life of a construction worker who takes a job in Sicily and moves away from his fiance in northern Italy. It's the classic romantic "abscence makes the heart grow fonder" storyline that is usually trite and banal. But somehow, amazingly, Olmi manages to pull it off, mainly through the great performances of the two leads and the brilliant editing towards the film's conclusion, where they read letters and thoughts to one another in a way that distorts past, present, and future. Highly recommended, as is Criterion's new editon of Olmi's IL POSTO.
Rating:
Summary: Fell Short of My Expectation
Review: I love classics and foreign movies. So, I was looking forward to the release of this DVD with great anticipation. The movie, however, fell short of my expection. It's a good movie, but not a great one. The director seems to have a thing for pigs. That's what I remember the most after watching this movie. Enough said.
Rating: 
Summary: a mediocre follow-up to il Posto
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
"I Fidanzati" or "The fiancèes" is often regarded as a sequel to "Il Posto" even though they are different in many ways.
In this film the relationship of a soon to be married couple in Milan is challenged when the man gets a job in Sicily.
This film is not as good as Il Posto, but still has some nice material.
The Criterion DVD has a theatrical trailer and an interview with Director Ermanno Olmi and Tullio Kezich who worked with Olmi on some films.
This film is not good to view by itself and should be seen with Il Posto.
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