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Movies / Upcoming / 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.

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

US Box Office: $0

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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Reviews for My Brother Is An Only Child

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; Australian critics are listed first)
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It's an engrossing political love story, with a strong sense of the shadings within the daily lives of these characters.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
06/20/08
Paul Byrnes
Paul Byrnes
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia) | comment Comment
06/13/08
Margaret Pomeranz
Margaret Pomeranz
At the Movies (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
06/12/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: The Age (Australia) | comment Comment
06/20/08
Jake Wilson
Jake Wilson
The Age (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: KPBS.org | comment Comment
06/08/08
Beth Accomando
Beth Accomando
KPBS.org

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

Full Review Source: KPBS.org | comment Comment
06/08/08
Beth Accomando
Beth Accomando
KPBS.org

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

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

In this lively drama of rebellion and revolution, emotion is even more inflammatory than politics.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
05/08/08
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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

Full Review Source: Las Vegas Weekly | comment Comment
05/22/08
Josh Bell
Josh Bell
Las Vegas Weekly

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
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

My Brother Is An Only Child reminisces with improbable yet affecting fondness over the adolescents behind the -isms that would shape post-war Italy.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
03/27/08
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Channel 4 Film

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.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
10/18/08
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
06/06/08
Liz Braun
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies

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

A spunky, memorable, and emotionally touching Italian film about the quest for personal transformation through politics.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
03/24/08
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

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

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.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
05/15/08
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star 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

What makes My Brother Is an Only Child so alive and entertaining is how it dramatizes the endless tug-of-war between political conviction and personal experience -- the way the lines twist and blur and finally implode.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
03/24/08
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
New York Magazine
 
 
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Latest News for My Brother Is An Only Child

March 25, 2008: Trailer & Poster review Opens in new window
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July 24, 2007: Mio fratelle e figlio unico (My Brother is an Only Child) - preview & trailer Opens in new window
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