Mio fratello è figlio unico (DVDrip - 2007)
Screened as part of 2007 Cannes & Toronto Film Festival, Mio fratello è figlio unico (My Brother is An Only Child) 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..
imdb infoSet in 1960s Latina -- a city not far from Rome created by the Fascist government of Mussolini -- and based on the bestselling Antonio Pennacchi novel Il fasciocomunista, Mio fratello è figlio unico is the story of Accio (Germano), who enters the novitiate at an early age to make space in the cramped quarters of the family, though his older brother Manrico (Italian dreamboat du jour Riccardo Scamarcio) tries to convince him to quit and he eventually does.

The relationship with his parents might be difficult and his older sister might sometimes hassle him, but it is the bond with his older brother Manrico, a communist, that is the focus of the film, though Manrico lacks the complexity of Accio and is essentially presented as an inverted mirror-image of his brother rather than a character by himself. Accio, influenced by a the local seller of sheets and table covers (Luca Zingaretti, the priest from Alla luce del sole / Into the Light), defines himself a fascist, leading to the first of many comical scenes in which he wants to register with the fascist party almost straight out of the novitiate.

Being a coming-of-age tale (and age in this case includes a maturing political conscience as much as a maturing body, mind and an awakening of sexual desire), the tone is lighter than most of Petraglia and Rulli’s previous screenplays -- and also a lot more humorous. Instead of interweaving historical national events into the fabric of the story, as they did in Gioventù and Romanzo Criminale, here small personal scuffles are used for a fictional tale of personal growth that is essentially a character study of Accio as refracted through the prism of his surroundings. As such it is a much more intimate and lighter affair that is a pleasant change of gears for the duo but also robs it of the solid weight of history that made their other sagas so compelling. In this light, their decision to use an occasional voice-over seems unnecessary. All other technical credits are first rate, and Mio fratello è figlio unico is a lust for the eyes and ears.


The film’s greatest delight comes from the utterly compelling inside-out performance of Elio Germano, who was the best thing about N – Io e Napoleone (N – Napoleon and Me) and proves here he is not only an actor with an affable demeanour but also a range and presence that Italian and international filmmakers should kindle and treasure. He is supported by an able cast led by Angela Finocchiaro (La bestia nel cuore / Don’t Tell) as his mother and the two pretty faces that fall in love with each other: Riccardo Scamarcio as his brother and newcomer Diane Fleri as his girlfriend Francesca, who has also got communist leanings and who has a special place in Accio’s fascist heart. [ European-films.net ]
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