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A Perfect Day (2008)

Director: Ferzan Ozpetek

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1 review

Movie review

From Time Out Online

A sentimental, Rome-set tale from Turkish-Italian director Ozpetek about a crazed husband – and bodyguard to a high-level Italian politician – who confronts his estranged wife and two children when he cracks from the pressure of marital separation. But rather than focus solely on this desperate, strained relationship, Ozpetek wanders off continually to follow the stories of other, related characters in the hope of dishing up edifying social contrasts and delivering a rounded portrait of a modern city. The film has too many superfluous storylines to be convincing and one wishes for some restraint in the telling, which tips over into melodrama with music to match. Ozpetek finally bottles it by inserting an awkward glimmer of hope where it doesn't belong.

Author: Dave Calhoun

Time Out Online

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User reviews of this film

Ed Farrell said...

Posted on Jun 09 2009 04:51 The film has excellent aspects (performances by Ferrari, the children and a cameo by the great Sandrell), but ultimately doesn't fulfill the promise of the opening two-thirds of the film. Inarritu makes the interconnectedness of many characters a satisfying device, but this director, whose other films have failed to convince me, can't pull it off. Ferrari is a very sympathetic mess of a character who drops the ball in a very major way tipping the scales toward calamity, but that behavior seems inconsistent with her approach to her husband's bad behavior up till then. A shame it doesn't come together: the actors are wonderful but the screenplay doesn't gel.

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