Review of The Italian (2005) by Chris R — 07 Apr 2008

This was a very tough film to like, not because it handled upsetting subject matter, but because it wasn't very good. Its always weird when you see a foreign film with great cinematography - its as though you *ought* to like it, and it *ought* to be good. This was a very plot driven movie - where things happened to the characters to further the story. When this happens the narrative becomes important and not the characters - this is a fundamental flaw for a movie I think. Which is a real shame because there are some fine performances in this film. I guess this is what they call neo-realism - and like another film I saw this week featuring young actors (not one less) it has this sort of understated feel - but where that movie was undeniably beautiful, The Italian fell rather flat.

Also it had some unbelievably cack handed moments of silly and almost offensive 'action' which were so out of keeping with the rest of it. These happened several times in the last 20 minutes - and the director almost managed to claw back a little moment from these. But why derail your movie so deliberately? Uneven and rather stupid. The main kid did a nice job though. Also, I said to myself halfway through, when it became clear what the story arc would be, that I bet it ended like Monsters Inc. (with a reaction shot implying something rather than an explicit shot) - and it totally did. Don't you just hate it when that happens?