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Mio Fratello è Figlio Unico (My Brother Is an Only Child)

Mio Fratello è Figlio Unico (My Brother Is an Only Child) (2007)

tomatometer

87

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 61
Fresh: 53 | Rotten: 8

Luchetti takes advantage of the storyline's historical context without sacrificing his cast's fine performances or the script's light wit.

89

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Critic Reviews: 18
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 2

Luchetti takes advantage of the storyline's historical context without sacrificing his cast's fine performances or the script's light wit.

audience

78

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 3,702

My Rating

Movie Info

Growing up in small-town Italy during the '60s and '70s, brothers Accio (Elio Germano) and Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) embody and celebrate opposing political stances, but share an impassioned love of the same woman that threatens to drive them to blows. Director Daniele Luchetti's political comedy Mio Fratello È Figlio Unico (aka My Brother Is an Only Child, 2007) observes the brothers over the course of 15 years, against the ever-shifting backdrop of tumultuous Italian sociopolitical history.

Aug 5, 2008

ThinkFilm

All Critics (62) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (53) | Rotten (8) | DVD (5)

The film, which argues that blood brotherhood is stronger than political brotherhoods, vibrates with their youthful energy and ardor.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | Comment
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The linkage in this movie between politics and family dynamics is a point well taken, but the movie -- whose sense of frenetic activity going nowhere is captured by Luchetti's buoyant camera -- does go on and on before anyone learns anything.

June 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment
Toronto Star
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Sometimes, under a torrent of social pressures, water runs faster, if not thicker, than blood, and even the strongest bonds drown in the flood.

June 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | Comment
Globe and Mail
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You don't need a degree in political science to love this film...The film entertainingly demonstrates that the bonds of blood are stronger than those of ideology.

May 15, 2008 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | Comment
Minneapolis Star Tribune
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Director Daniele Luchetti's strategy is to personify the long-standing divisions of his homeland in a pair of siblings, but make the characters so vital that we don't feel we're being browbeaten with political allegory.

April 25, 2008 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
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In a sense, the movie is about Accio's appreciation of the practical limits of ideology and the practical uses of rebellion, and it's a poignant realization.

April 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Boston Globe | Comment
Boston Globe
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Actors Germano and Scamarcio turn in magnificent, multilayered acting jobs.

April 28, 2011 Full Review Source: East Bay Express | Comment
East Bay Express

Daniele Luchetti's fluent, heartfelt Italian picture is the story of two brothers born after the war, who come of age in the 1960s and drift apart in the paranoid, violent, sour political atmosphere of Italy in the 70s.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

A merry swirl of vital, passionate performances.

August 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | Comment
Sacramento News & Review

It's an engrossing political love story, with a strong sense of the shadings within the daily lives of these characters.

June 20, 2008 Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | Comment
Sydney Morning Herald

Fast-paced, well-acted and acute about sibling rivalry, the film nonetheless fails to leave a strong impression.

June 20, 2008 Full Review Source: The Age (Australia) | Comment
The Age (Australia)

This is such a lovely film from writer/director Daniele Luchetti, nostalgic perhaps, but with that indefinable Italian whimsy that takes serious political themes and undermines them beautifully.

June 13, 2008 Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia) | Comment
At the Movies (Australia)

The performances are astonishing, perhaps enabled by the flawless script.

June 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

Despite the awards pedigree, the drama is a bit of a slog at times, with Accio taking seemingly ages to come of age, but nobody said growing up was easy.

June 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | Comment
Arizona Daily Star

"Only Child" is both funny and heartbreaking, and incredibly adept at shifting between lighter and darker tones.

June 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | Comment
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

Although familiarity with Italian politics helps in appreciating this film, anyone can enjoy this energetic tale of a house divided.

June 8, 2008 Full Review Source: KPBS.org | Comment
KPBS.org

The best thing about the movie are the performances, all of which are outstanding; in particular, Angela Finocchiaro, who plays the long-suffering mother, is superb.

June 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | Comment
Jam! Movies

The film's early affability eventually wears out, and a sharp turn into deadly seriousness feels out of place.

May 22, 2008 Full Review Source: Las Vegas Weekly | Comment

My Brother Is an Only Child is a buoyant, handsomely crafted film.

May 16, 2008 Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | Comment
St. Paul Pioneer Press

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.

May 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | Comment
Austin Chronicle
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Mio Fratello è Figlio Unico (My Brother Is an Only Child)

differing political ideologies of communism versus fascism can not sever the bonds between two brothers. very moving and well acted film.

April 7, 2009
bookmunki

Super Reviewer

"There's nothing in the middle of road but yellow lines and dead armadillos." - Jim Hightower "My Brother Is An Only Child" starts in 1962 in Italy where Accio Benassi(Elio Germano) is in a seminary studying to be a priest. He does well until he discovers masturbation and quits, reasoning that priests should be

April 9, 2009
Harlequin68
Walter M.

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Mein Bruder ist ein Einzelkind (DE)
  • My Brother Is An Only Child (UK)
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