My Brother Is an Only Child (2007)

You won't be disappointed!

Pretty Good

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

If you had the rare chance to see 'The Best Of Youth' a few years ago, and was dazzled by it's very well written screenplay, here's another feather for your cap. 'My Brother Is An Only Child' re-unites the writers of that fine film for another tale of sibling rivalry. It tells the tale of two upper class Italian brothers, one just liberated from seminary school, where he was kicked out for bad behavior,and decides to become a neo fascist. The other, a dedicated communist. The volatile mix of passion (and hard headed)of the two brothers make for a panorama of social change in Italy of the mid to late 1960's. This is a beautifully filmed,smartly acted & crisply directed film that's well worth seeking out.

The political backdrop of this 60s character drama is both nostalgic and frightening - that disaffected and rebellious Accio finds himself so easily taken in by a Fascist mentor strikes parallels with the our own young men turning to extremism or street violence in a search of identity. Accio clashes dramatically with his older brother, the hip, good-looking communist, but the story not so much about political ideals as their expression of familial jealousies and personal moral development.The tensions and affections of this struggling working class family, portrayed by all with genuine emotion. The dialogue is witty and charming and not unlike other memorable Italian films (Il Postino, Cinema Paradiso) the characters come across almost too resoundingly. This gives the film a well-crafted theatrical quality, that is engaging, well-paced and very satisfying.

Saw this as part of the London Film Festival, and was expecting a belter. And how disappointed was I? VERY.What could have been a very interesting look at how different political views can co-exist within the family instead descends into a series of disjointed rubbish with no real purpose and no explanation.The central characters were introduced, but without much substance, and there were holes in the plot that you could have driven a double decker bus through. About 20 minutes too long, it actually had my husband snoring after an hour, that can't be good in the entertainment stakes, can it? With a denouement that comes out of nowhere, this left me feeling very disappointed and unsatisfied. All in all, a good idea, totally wasted.

The title was taken by a 70s song by Rino Gaetano, inexplicably missing from the soundtrack, full of the greatest tracks of Italian pop of those years though. The fingers by S. Petraglia and S. Rulli in the script are very strong. Four years ago Marco Tullio Giordana with The Best of youth (La meglio gioventù) came to birth their two-hands story about Italy between the 60s and the 2000s years, and some parallels can be found between this new script and the previous one, focusing Italy in the "boom" decade (1960s), until the middle '70s, digging and studying the political context with a typical love accentuation.In those years the Christian-democratic party (DC) was the sole entity representing the nation. Nobody after De Gasperi had his charisma and his skills to continue his path. So, a lot of people found a good shelter in the extremist parties (communist, PCI or fascist, MSI). The two brothers here join those ideas, paying in the future years their terrible consequences (living from the inside the "lead years", the 70s as they're known in Italy for the miserable succession of criminal acts).Elio Germano is stunning. He never picked prime roles, 'till now, and he showed absolutely good skills, as great was Scamarcio. He always played frivolous roles in teenagers' movies, but this time they gave him credit and he didn't disappointed even fussy viewers (like he didn't in Crime Novel or Texas). Two brothers taking two opposite ways in their lives, loving each others very much, but politically incompatible even when on the same side.Scenes are often cut with sketches and jokes that lighten the tension of those rough political phrases (in both directions!), the violent segments and the plot. The ending is a memorable upside-down, touching and bittersweet, with an ultimate, definitive coming of age by Accio.I hope it will do a great job at Cannes Film Festival in the -Un certain regard- section, and like La Meglio Gioventù it will win the top prize. It really deserve it.