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62
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54
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51
Mamma Mia!
51
Savage Grace
51
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Fly Me to the Moon
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Women, The
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American Carol, An
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Surfer, Dude
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Disaster Movie
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Eden Lake
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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My Brother Is an Only Child
THINKFilm
 |
|
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring
Elio Germano,
Riccardo Scamarcio,
Angela Finocchiaro,
Luca Zingaretti,
Anna Bonaiuto,
and
Massimo Popolizio
Already a smash in its native Italy, My Brother is an Only Child, which was presented at this year's Cannes and Toronto film festivals, reunites director Daniele Luchetti with longtime collaborators Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli, best known as screenwriters of the highly acclaimed The Best of Youth. Set in a small Italian town in the '60s and '70s, the film tells the story of two brothers who want to change the world--but in completely different ways. The elder, Manrico, is a handsome, charismatic firebrand who becomes the prime mover in the local Communist party. Accio, the younger, more rebellious brother, finds his own contrarian voice by joining the reactionary Fascists. What starts as a typical tale of sibling rivalry becomes a story of the polarizing and paralyzing politics of those turbulent times. The rift between the brothers is further intensified when Accio realizes that he loves his brother's girlfriend, Francesca, who like everyone else is blind to Manrico's increasingly dangerous ideas. (THINKFilm)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
Crime
|
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Antonio Pennacchi (novel "Il Fasciocomunista")
Stefano Rulli
Sandro Petraglia
Daniele Luchetti
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Daniele Luchetti
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: August 5, 2008
Theatrical: March 28, 2008
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
108 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Italy / France |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
Italian |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
88
TV Guide
Ken Fox
There's a hilarious performance of a "de-fascisized" version of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," and the soundtrack prominently features an Italian version of the crypto-fascist girl-group classic "I Will Follow Him," a joke Kenneth Anger first made in "Scorpio Rising" that's still funny today.
88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Moviegoers of a certain age may feel as though they are watching a lost Bertolucci film.
80
Empire
Ross Bennett
Thanks to the captivating performances, this is well worth checking out.
80
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Petraglia and Rulli once again display their gift for bringing the texture of reality to family drama, for creating people and situations that involve us completely. My Brother Is an Only Child is not the only film that does this, but it's a product that's in shorter and shorter supply every year.
75
Chicago Tribune
Sid Smith
It’s a history lesson, a look at ’60s strife inside a corner far removed from our more familiar American images of that era. It’s also brightly performed, from sullen, boorish, yet charismatic Scamarcio to the instinctive, charming, infuriating characterization by Germano.
75
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Intelligent, well-acted movie.
75
Portland Oregonian
Marc Mohan
Though it's well-cast and convincingly captures the look and feel of its era, the film loses steam as Accio's story meanders to a predictable conclusion.
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
My Brother Is an Only Child isn't a critique of the left but a film about the consequences and responsibility of "political action." Luchetti measures social justice not in ideals but in positive change and the compassion with which it is accomplished.
75
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
Ripe, ferociously acted comic drama.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Walter Addiego
A provocative character study and portrait of the times.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
Great title, and the whiff of existential loneliness that it conjures up – brothers locked not in solidarity but in solitude – permeates the entire movie.
70
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
What makes My Brother Is an Only Child so alive and entertaining is how it dramatizes the endless tug-of-war between political conviction and personal experience--the way the lines twist and blur and finally implode.
70
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
A lively minor addendum to the grand tradition of Italian fraternal cinema.
70
Variety
Jay Weissberg
Scripted by "The Best of Youth" duo who brought the post-WWII years into stark and moving light, pic offers a warm humor that illuminates the defiant vista of hope even when the proceedings turn tragic.
70
Village Voice
Nick Pinkerton
Tumultuously shot "rawness" is the stylistic house rule, but it's Elio Germano's Accio who vitalizes the film.
70
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Although the movie never quite dispels the sense of being dated (it could have been made anytime in the past 40 years), it's a memorable, often moving timepiece.
67
Austin Chronicle
Josh Rosenblatt
I suppose, in the end, My Brother Is an Only Child is a coming-of-age story about a young man who – like the era he was born into – has no idea how to come of age, except by violent fits and starts, in all directions, to varying ends, and ready to change course whenever the mood strikes.
67
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
The movie is a veritable scrapbook of tropes from the heyday of art film. Maybe that's why it feels gauzy and quaint. Yet time passes pleasantly.
50
Chicago Reader
Michael Atkinson
The rough-and-tumble tone is bitterly entertaining but in the end doesn't contribute to a convincing historical portrait, and a pileup of half-baked resolutions spoils the buzz.
 The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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