The Best Of Youth (La meglio gioventù)

dir. Marco Tullio Giordana
Italy, 2003

In an Italian film tradition that includes Rocco and His Brothers and The Leopard (and not Cold Mountain, as the ill-conceived DVD blurb suggests), this is a wonderfully sweeping, soap-operatic account of two brothers and their family stretching from 1966 to 2003.

I remember the trailers for this showing at the Watershed in Bristol. It was released in two parts (and appears as such on the DVD) of about 3 hours each. It is pretty epic. It was originally a TV mini-series in Italy shown in 4 parts. It's made by some of the people that made last year's surprise My Brother Is An Only Child and features the same natural, engaging acting and moving family dynamics, particularly in its presentation of the deep bonds and differences between two brothers.

I fear some might call it a technically conservative film because its strengths lie in classic storytelling. Whilst across the spectrum of narrative devices it may well turn out to be that, I don't think that is inherently bad. In fact the word conservative is best avoided as it has too many unwanted and unpleasant connotations. The storytelling really is, like My Brother, effortless. I am not alone in wanting to repeat the experience of watching it. Gorging ourselves on it over three nights, the only complaint was that it was too short. It draws you in, makes you care about the family, and doesn't let go.

I'm sure it will feature in my end of year "Best Of" post.

Rewatch: The Talented Mr Ripley

dir. Anthony Minghella
USA, 1999

My Brother Is An Only Child

Wonderful Italian film from the writers of The Best Of Youth, about two brothers growing up in the 60s, the eldest a handsome, charming Communist, the younger nicknamed Accio (Bully), wily and a Fascist. Perfect acting, superb writing and great camera work, everything works together for the good of the film.

Like The Edge of Heaven last week, My Brother Is An Only Child seems almost effortless. The bond between the family is quickly established through countless smackings, brotherly rough and tumble and shouting matches through the apartment the five of them share. The pertinent information about them simply appears in your brain without need for a eureka moment of understanding. It's all in the swirling camera-work and the way the dialogue is performed, with everyone talking over each other, not finishing sentences, resorting to insults.

Luchetti achieves the right balance between the fanaticism of the two brothers' ideals and their fraternal bond. Whilst in the context of two rival protests coming together in a brawl they can fight each other, in the more personal context of Fascist friends of Accio burning Communist Manrico's car, then blood comes before ideals. It's an ongoing tussle, complicated firstly by Accio's lack of true Fascism - after rebelling against his family he renounces it after Fascists storm a concert by a Communist orchestra who've "de-fascisted" a Beethoven symphony by writing pro-Mao accompanying lyrics, and secondly by Accio falling - slowly, and without anything ever really coming of it - in love with Manrico's on-off girlfriend and mother of his child Francesca.

It's a testament to the acting that this works, given how hard it is to pull off. They're both believably fanatic but when they break through their beliefs or discard them all together it makes sense and is completely free of sentimentality.