Il Posto

Evoking the slice-of-life sense of fellow neorealists Vittorio De Sica (The Bicycle Thief) and Roberto Rossellini (Open City), Ermanno Olmi (The Tree of Wooden Clogs) made a huge impression with his second feature Il Posto upon its initial release in 1961. Relying on quietly observant camerawork, the film follows the hiring and subsequent promotion of a young man named Domenico (the marvelously expressive Sandro Panseri), at a blandly sterile bureaucratic company. Merely reactive by nature, he becomes smitten with an attractive coworker but is too shy to decisively pursue her beyond sharing coffee. Olmi's bleak portrait of the working class justly earned praise for both its simplicity and insight, but his pacing may be euphemistically dubbed "deliberate," as the accretion of quotidian detail (which is the film's modus operandi) will test all but the most avid viewer's patience. Boasting a nearly flawless black-and-white image, the DVD also features a deleted scene, a brief interview with Olmi and one of his collaborators, a subsequent short film shown on television, a demo of the extensive restoration, a comparatively dilapidated trailer, and an enlightening print essay. Also newly available at the same price is Olmi's I Fidanzati (1962). A strong optional purchase. (T. Rich)