Falling for Figaro

I have certain weaknesses when it comes to film. Two of those issues affected me in a movie I watched recently, “Falling for Figaro” (2020).

1. My favorite movie tends to be the last movie I watched and enjoyed.

2. I enjoy stories that involve a person following their dreams and succeeding improbably at advanced ages.

The first of my film appreciation flaws is at play because I just saw this particular movie. Not knowing anything about it, I sat down with my wife to watch “Falling for Figaro.”

It is a likable story, acted well and set in an exotic location. Various other elements of film — music, costume, romance and struggle were all present at a level that made me smile throughout. It is good enough to like, which is why it is probably my favorite movie right at this moment.

In the film, a white-collar worker leaves her job and her boyfriend to study and practice opera. The woman is around 30, and other people tell her that she is too old to start a career in opera, which is the one thing that she believes will fulfill her.

And this is where I fault myself as any kind of objective reviewer. As stated, I love stories in which a person overcomes an old-age barrier. Similarly, I enjoy “The Matrix Resurrections” (2021) and “Rocky” (1976), despite their flaws.

My problem is going to worsen with time, I think. As I get older, I imagine I will see myself in older and older characters. And I will be happy when they prove, again and again, that their age, whatever it is, is not the end.

Maybe you will feel the same and like this movie, too.

— Erick Peterson, editor and senior reporter, Hermiston Herald