Funny tale of Italian brothers, political enemies
One waves a red flag, banner of communism. The other wears a black shirt, symbol of fascism. The ideological battles of 1960s Italy pits brother against brother in Daniele Luchetti's freewheeling seriocomedy, My Brother Is an Only Child. (Though it shares a similar title and era, the film has no relation to Jack Douglas' off-the-wall humor collection of 1959.)
One waves a red flag, banner of communism. The other wears a black shirt, symbol of fascism. The ideological battles of 1960s Italy pits brother against brother in Daniele Luchetti's freewheeling seriocomedy,
My Brother Is an Only Child
. (Though it shares a similar title and era, the film has no relation to Jack Douglas' off-the-wall humor collection of 1959.)
Based on the Italian best-seller Il Fasciocomunista and adapted by Sandro Petragia and Stefano Rulli, screenwriters of the similarly themed The Best of Youth, the film centers on Accio (Elio Germano), the youngest of three in a family of working-class Christian Democrats.
They live on the outskirts of Rome in Latina, a model city planned by Mussolini that shows the ravages of time and neglect. While they wait impatiently for new public housing, their humble apartment is coming apart almost as fast as their family.
After being ejected from seminary, Accio exchanges religion for politics, sampling -isms as if they were gelato.
His initial adolescent rebellion takes the form of embracing fascism, much to the contempt of Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio), his hearthrob-handsome older brother, a charismatic Communist. While the brothers have doctrinal differences, they both have a yen for lovely Francesca (Diane Fleri), a bourgeois beauty besotted with Manrico.
Shot on actual locations with a handheld camera, Luchetti's captivating coming-of-age film combines neorealist themes with New Wave filmmaking. Luchetti insinuates himself into the shaky lives of his characters so fully that we share their hunger for stability and their lust for life. Moviegoers of a certain age may feel as though they are watching a lost Bertolucci film.
Germano, defiance with an appealing smile, and Scamarcio, a firecracker with double-dip eyelashes, play beautifully off, against and with each other. The film, which argues that blood brotherhood is stronger than political brotherhoods, vibrates with their youthful energy and ardor.
My Brother Is an Only Child ***1/2 (out of four stars)
Directed by Daniele Luchetti. With Elio Germano, Riccardo Scarmarcio and Diane Fleri. Distributed by Thinkfilm. In Italian with English subtitles.
Running time: 1 hour, 48 mins.
Parent's guide: R (profanity, sexual candor)
Playing at: Ritz Five
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