moviereview - My Brother is an Only Child

MY BROTHER IS AN ONLY CHILD

	Two warring brothers - one a fascist, one a communist - try to get along in a small Italian family during the 1960's.	score 3+	moviereview rates films from 1 (unwatchable) to 5 (unmissable)
			FIND A MOVIEREVIEW

Cast
Elio Germano, Riccardo Scamarcio, Alba Rohrwacher, Angela Finocchiaro, Massimo Poplizio, Diane Fleri

Director
Daniele Luchetti

Screenwriter
Daniele Luchetti

Country
Italy (subtitles)

Rating / Running Time
M / 108 minutes

Australian Release
June 2008

Official Site

The title sets up this delightfully ironic tale of two Italian brothers in the 1960’s. Accio (Germano) is a fast-mouthed, hot-headed youngster whose indoctrination into Italy’s fascist party puts him at odds with his entire family. A little because they’re a tight-knit group of communists, mostly because they don’t believe Accio truly embraces his fashionable ideals. He’s done it to piss them off. Some years pass and Accio, now a fast-mouthed, hot-headed student, is till a fascist, and still a jerk.

A story of warring families and political principles could dry up in the hot, Italian sun but is here rendered utterly compelling under Luchetti’s nimble guidance. Beneath the lively joust of political conviction lies the warm and endlessly witty story of a family learning to love itself. Despite Accio’s cantankerous bravado he remains seductively charismatic, just as the fiery relationship with his brother Manrico (Scamarcio), now a successful party activist, grows in interesting and unexpected ways. Most notably when Accio reveals that it is more than fondness he feels for Manrico’s girlfriend Violetta (Alba Rohrwacher). “A fascist in the family is always handy,” she counters.

The clash of ideology that swept Europe in the late ‘60’s is effortlessly caught in this turbulent tale. Marred by technical lapses, My Brother is an Only Child soars on story and performance, and in both these regards it triumphs. As the story navigates toward a captivating if inevitable climax, and the pendulum of fate, fortune and circumstance swings back, Luchetti gives pause to reflect on some of life’s greater ironies. Add a ferociously politicised Beethoven and you’ve got one the better films to be released this year.

// COLIN FRASER