Here is something I learned, among many other things, while watching Luca Guadagnino’s delightful documentary “Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams”: Every movie should end with a shoe ballet. It’s entirely appropriate that this film, which examines the life and work of Italian-born shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo, should conclude with a whirling Busby Berkeley-ish rainbow (created by stop-motion animator PES) of pumps pirouetting, wedges waltzing, ballet flats boogieing, sandals sambaing. But really, I’m trying to think of a movie — or anything in life, for that matter — that couldn’t be improved by this addition; nothing springs immediately to mind.
Even without that glorious final sequence, “Salvatore” is a pleasure for anyone who loves shoes and/or good movies. Guadagnino, whose gloriously swoony feature films include “Call Me By Your Name,” “I Am Love” and “A Bigger Splash,” here revels in the real-life story of a man who knew his passion from the very beginning.
Born in 1898 in a small Italian town, he was fascinated by shoes from a very early age, hanging out at the local cobbler and crafting shoes for his sisters at home. At 11, he spent a year in Naples studying shoemaking; upon his return, he opened a shop in his parents’ front hallway. By 17, he was headed to America, bringing with him a few changes of clothing, a salami, some cheese, a small handful of lira and no English.
