Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
La Meglio Gioventù (2003)
Director: Marco Tullio Giordana
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This very fine six-hour drama charts the fortunes of an Italian family from the mid-'60s to the present. It's an honorable contribution to a tradition that includes Rocco and His Brothers, The Leopard, even The Godfather, but here the drama's political dimensions are delineated more clearly than usual. While Nicola, for instance, tries to overcome early disappointment by taking a hippy holiday, falling for a leftie who ends up in the Red Brigades, and working for the improvement of his country's psychiatric practices, his brother Matteo treats the very same sense of failure as an excuse to end up first in the army and then in the police. (Even the conspicuous absence of specific political references during the last hour speaks volumes about the Berlusconi era, given the accent on activism in earlier scenes.) Such oppositions might have made for schematic contrivance, but the sure sense of time and place in Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli's complex but beautifully lucid script and the visceral depth and subtlety of the performances result in classical storytelling of the highest order.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Marco Tullio Giordana
Producer: Angelo Barbagallo
Cast: Luigi Lo Cascio, Alessio Boni, Adriana Asti, Sonia Bergamasco, Fabrizio Gifuni, Maya Sansa, Valentina Carnelutti, Jasmine Trinca, Andrea Tidona, Lidia Vitale full cast
Genre(s): Epics
Duration: 366 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing






What do you think?
Post your review now