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Movies / On DVD / My Brother Is An Only Child
My Brother Is An Only Child

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My Brother Is An Only Child (2006)

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Reviews Counted:58

Fresh:50

Rotten:8

Average Rating:7/10

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

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Mar 28, 2008 Limited

Synopsis: 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 Luchetti with longtime collaborators Sandro... 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 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 60’s and 70’s, the film tells the story of two brothers who want to change the world – but in completely different ways. The elder, Manrico (Riccardo Scarmaccio), is a handsome, charismatic firebrand who becomes the prime mover in the local Communist party. Accio, (Elio Germano) 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 the story of the polarizing and paralyzing politics of those turbulent times and, the rift between the brothers is further intensified when Accio realizes that he loves his brother’s girlfriend, Francesca (Diane Fleri) who, like everyone else, is blind to Manrico’s increasingly dangerous ideas. An intensely cinematic and incredibly incisive film about the dreams and disillusionments of the 60’s and 70’s, MY BROTHER IS AN ONLY CHILD is set in the exact era of the groundbreaking early classics of Bernardo Bertolucci and Marco Bellochio. Not only does Luchetti pay explicit homage to those films – “Before the Revolution,” “Fist in the Pocket,” and “China is Near” – he comes very close to matching their beauty, intelligence, and youthful exuberance. --© THINKFilm [More]

Starring: Angela Finocchiaro, Luca Zingaretti, Elio Germano, Riccardo Scamarcio

Starring: Angela Finocchiaro, Luca Zingaretti, Elio Germano, Riccardo Scamarcio, Diane Fleri, Alba Rohrwacher, Massimo Popolizio

Director: Daniele Luchetti

Director: Daniele Luchetti
Producer: Riccardo Tozzi, Giovanni Stabilini, Marco Chimenz
Screenwriter: Sandro Petraglia, Stefano Rulli, Daniele Luchetti
Composer: Franco Piersanti
Studio: ThinkFilm

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Release:

Aug 5, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • The violent political unrest of 1960s Italy brings simmering tensions between two feuding brothers to the boiling point in this critically acclaimed film. Eager to distance themselves from each other, Accio (Elio Germano, Do You Like Hitchock?, Respiro: Grazia's Island) and older brother, Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio, Romanzo Criminale, Three Steps Over Heaven), join opposing political parties but are tied together by their dysfunctional working-class family... and a beautiful girl named Francesca. As the turbulent decade comes to a close, the brothers slowly discover they're more alike than they thought, but that realization might come too late.
  • Source: Image Entertainment Inc.
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    Reviews for My Brother Is An Only Child

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    21 - 40 (sorted by date)
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    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.

    Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
    05/02/08
    Marc Mohan
    Marc Mohan
    Oregonian

    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.

    Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
    04/25/08
    Walter V. Addiego
    Walter V. Addiego
    San Francisco Chronicle

    This smart, engaging film shows how much political convictions are often rooted in the inchoate passions and early disappointments of youth.

    Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
    04/25/08
    Ken Fox
    Ken Fox
    TV Guide's Movie Guide

    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.

    Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
    04/25/08
    Wesley Morris
    Wesley Morris
    Boston Globe
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    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.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
    04/25/08
    Michael Atkinson
    Michael Atkinson
    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Tells a familiar story in a familiar way with conviction and no small amount of talent on both sides of the camera, though it's hardly essential.

    Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | comment Comment
    04/17/08
    Tim Brayton
    Tim Brayton
    Antagony & Ecstasy

    One hardly needs to have grown up Italian in the '60s to feel a pang of nostalgia watching My Brother Is an Only Child, Daniele Luchetti's tale of small-town brothers.

    Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
    04/16/08
    Owen Gleiberman
    Owen Gleiberman
    Entertainment Weekly
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    The film's biggest failure isn't Accio's constant contentiousness, nor the story's dense political center. Rather, it's the script's tendency to wander.

    Full Review Source: Let's Not Listen | comment Comment
    04/10/08
    Tricia Olszewski
    Tricia Olszewski
    Let's Not Listen

    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.

    Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
    04/10/08
    Desson Thomson
    Desson Thomson
    Washington Post
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    The fey illogic in the title of My Brother is an Only Child hints at the style of this funny-sad film, which flips from dark to light moods and back with suave, unpredictable dexterity.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
    04/10/08
    Sid Smith
    Sid Smith
    Chicago Tribune

    It's vibrantly shot throughout, with the handheld camerawork well suited to conveying Accio's impulsive behaviour.

    Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
    04/08/08
    Thomas Dawson
    Thomas Dawson
    BBC

    manages to evoke, but never trivialise, the mad, internecine conflicts of recent Italian political history

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    04/06/08
    Time Out

    Thanks to the captivating performances, this is well worth checking out.

    Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
    04/06/08
    Ross Bennett
    Ross Bennett
    Empire Magazine

    If some of this sounds like stereotypical Italian behavior, and if in fact My Brother Is an Only Child has a weakness for abrupt and melodramatic plot devices, it has other virtues that make it truly satisfying.

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
    04/04/08
    Kenneth Turan
    Kenneth Turan
    Los Angeles Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Yep, it's your typical shouty Italian movie, though this time presented with sharp humor and an effortless cinematic verity by director Daniele Luchetti.

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
    04/04/08
    Bob Strauss
    Bob Strauss
    Los Angeles Daily News

    Luchetti directs with a light touch that recalls the Italian comedies that were popular -- in the U.S. as well as Europe -- during the period it portrays.

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
    04/03/08
    Andy Klein
    Andy Klein
    Los Angeles CityBeat

    Engaging, sharply directed drama with a strong script and superb performances, though you occasionally feel you're missing out on a deeper meaning.

    Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
    04/03/08
    Matthew Turner
    Matthew Turner
    ViewLondon

    works best as an Italian dramedy with its history used as window dressing and any original thought kept happily to itself.

    Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
    03/28/08
    Chris Cabin
    Chris Cabin
    Filmcritic.com

    My Brother Is an Only Child is a politically charged family drama set in Italy in the 1960s and 1970s -- think The Best of Youth (director Daniele Luchetti collaborated with that epic film's writers) at a more butt-friendly running time.

    Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
    03/28/08
    Lou Lumenick
    Lou Lumenick
    New York Post
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    My Brother Is an Only Child is a lively minor addendum to the grand tradition of Italian fraternal cinema.

    comment Comment
    03/28/08
    A.O. Scott
    A.O. Scott
    New York Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic
     
     
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