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Italian for Beginners (2000)

Director: Lone Scherfig

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Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

There's some mileage yet in the Dogme franchise. Shot on some of the same locations as Dancer in the Dark, this immensely likeable movie about six unhappy loners eking out an existence in a dead end town starts in bleak fashion, but once the losers start attending evening classes in Italian, the mood begins to lighten. By the final reel, the film has turned into something approaching a conventional romantic comedy. Scherfig (the first woman to direct a Dogme movie) denies that she was trying to serve up a fairytale ending. 'I just hope people who see the film can see the possibility of turning a not so good fate into a slightly better one,' she says.

Author: GM

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

Technoguy said...

Posted on Mar 09 2009 13:30 This was not Hollywood-lite as the reviewer asserts,
it's the viking pursuit of sunnier climes, using the
metaphor of a language class in Italian for the pursuit of relationships. It's gawky,sincere,charming taking place at a basic religious and economic level of existence,so no great
complications or sophistication amongst the 6 characters.We see them i)getting haircuts, ii)going
to funerals,iii) losing or struggling with jobs or
starting new ones. Of course there is a level of
coincidence and strange togetherness amongst strangers that bespeaks the language of the heart
rather than the language of the head,so what, it
provides light relief from the usual dogme fair and
even Shakespeare had his comedies.

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