PNFS: My Brother Is an Only Child

Mio fratello è figlio unico.
Directed by Daniele Luchetti
Italy, 2007, 75mins, M - violence, sexual references, offensive language

Trailer: http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/my-brother-is-an-only-child/trailer

Set in a small town in Italy during the 1960s and '70s, the film depicts the relationship between two brothers, Accio and Manrico, caught up in the political conflicts of Italy’s recent past.

A wiry, tough-guy drop-out from a seminary, the teenage Accio swaps his faith in Catholicism for support for fascism when he starts hanging out with an older admirer of Il Duce. Pretty soon he’s attending black-shirt rallies and goading the local communists, much to the fury of Manrico, a left-wing firebrand played with smouldering charisma by Riccardo Scamarcio.

“This is an audience-friendly affair, that is as concerned with Accio’s coy crush on Manrico’s beguiling liberal girlfriend Francesca as it is with changing political times. There are plenty of broad-brush but effective jokes at the expense of Accio and Manrico’s fanaticism – the Communist version of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” sung at a student rally is a hilarious send-up of '70s political correctness. But it’s in the relationship between the two siblings—warm, poignant, beautifully played by Germano and Scamarcio—that the film impresses. Sweet and soft as a slice of panetone (sweet bread loaf), My Brother is an Only Child is exemplary family melodrama of the kind the Italians do so effortlessly.” – Ed Lawrenson, Time Out

“The beauty of this movie comes from how the characters are not their politics. The brothers are at odds, but Luchetti keeps the bond between them tight, and the movie light, for as long as it can stand lightness. (There are great old Italian pop songs everywhere.) The director is working from a screenplay he wrote with Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli, the pair who gave us an epic version of this tale in 2003, The Best of Youth. That movie had a breath-taking scope that told the story of modern Italy through one family. My Brother… was adapted from Antonio Pennacchi's novel "Il Fasciocomunista," and it's a smaller movie, told mostly from Accio's perspective.” - By Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

Did you know? The director Daniele Luchetti makes an appearance as a silent priest.

Only one screening at 6pm at Downtown Cinemas.

Members only. Palmerston North Film Society Membership is available at the door before each screening and lasts for one full year.