ThurstonHunger Had the trappings of a dysfunctional family dramadey, but sans much comedy. A family of four with the two kids about to leave the nest, caught my middle-aging eye (as opposed to my aging middle eye). The couple dealing with weariness on the surface with each other, but perhaps more truthfully with themselves...the tension of teenagers trying on adult situations too, these set me up with enough interest.All four family members come with their own crises, largely self-made and each oblivious to the others in the family. For some reason that obliviousness seemed to hurt me the viewer, more than the characters themselves.The father and son in the movie confuse sex with love. Italian men may do this better than others, it's debatable. The women stumble through sex while trying to find their careers, but each career is contingent upon the applause of others (art-house small theatre for mom, solid gold dancing and canned TV clapping for the daughter).By the way, all four family members are drop-dead good looking. Three are insecure about it, while the daughter pretty much banks on her beauty. She literally sleeps with her mirror, both soundly and while in coitus with a stepping stone stage hand leading towards the television altar. Does it matter that the role is literally that of a harem girl.To make the family members see each other, Dad is sent reeling by an old flame, even more powerfully attractive than the stunning mother. The flame's (Monica Belluci's) beauty is only over-shadowed by a vacant beach-house that her mother owns somewhere on the shoreline of heaven.Typically in these movies, we are fed some transcendent family epiphany as they rally together while facing their flaws. And I often don't mind those moments as I think there are genuine truths within them, but this film does something a bit bizarre.Spoiler coming...The car accident that nearly kills the father and as expected thereby saves the father, feels really wrong. Comments in the chat section of IMDb talk about Carlo at the end, the forced smile and the not-so-chance meeting the bellisima Belluci-ma. Also we see she that her character did in fact leave her husband.A day after watching this, I cannot shake the notion that this movie seems like an apology from the director (or the writer or a producer) to his lover for not leaving his family. And something tells me his own "car wreck" preventing him from joining her was only a symbolic one.I'm certain his jilted lover will always remember him, and not as kindly as this film would have one believe.

gradyharp RECORDATI DI ME is a beautifully written and constructed film by Italian director Gabriele Muccino about the workings of a 'normal middle class' family and the bonds and challenges that peak at the time of fragmentation of the family unit that accompanies 1) middle age of the parents and 2) departure of the children at the end of high school. How those crises and adjustments inform the durability of the family unit makes up this thoroughly engrossing and touching film.Carlo Ristuccia (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) is the father embedded in a life long job that is mundane and not at all in line with his dreams of being a writer (he has been writing a novel for years, yet unfinished). His wife Giulia (Laura Morante) is a committed mother but longs to return to the acting stage she abandoned for marriage. Their two children are Valentina (Nicolette Romanoff) who is determined to become a glamorous TV star and Paolo (Silvio Muccino) who is aimless in his desire for a life of meaning, a life which would prove he is not as unexceptional as he views himself.Gradually each member of the family encounters escape routes: Carlo meets his old girlfriend Alessia (Monica Bellucci) and begins an affair with her; Giulia is asked to audition for a part in a play directed by one Alfredo (Gabriele Lavia) who makes her feel desirable and noticed; Valentina sleeps around to land a part in a TV giveaway show 'Ali Babbi', and Paolo attempts to attach himself to a girlfriend by planning a birthday party with contraband hashish which he feels will make him appear important in the eyes of his peers. As each of these crises reaches a peek, Carlo sustains a back injury while fleeing his home and his resultant hospitalization results in altered perceptions of what the family is all about.The twists and turns of the plot are, of course, far more involved than this short synopsis, and it is the development of each of these characters and the way that they approach change that makes the film work so well.The acting is excellent and the direction is past paced even for a two and a half hour movie. Yes, much of this has been said before, but the wit and pathos combine to create a story well worth telling and watching. It is a story about dreams, lost possibilities, and the need to fulfill them.

TdSmth5 Just like the director's previous effort _The Last Kiss_ this movie is about life. And no one brings more realism to his representations of the human condition than Muccino. There's pain and suffering, there's pleasures and elation, loss and gain, sadness and happiness but mostly a search to find ourselves in the time we have been given. Unlike one-dimensional American movies, Muccino's films show how with pleasure comes pain and that in pain are the seeds of pleasure. The acting is perfect. Bellucci looks gorgeous and so does Laura Morante. There is so much going on in this film that invariably, some story lines will be less interesting to some than others. This and _The Last Kiss_ are great celebrations of life.

Qwerty77 The plot it's not so original. If someone saw "L'ultimo Bacio" there's nothing new. A wealthy family in Rome living everyday life that's is boring and false, with everyone asking to others what they think about them. Really boring after an half of hour because it's simple to understand where the story is going to finish. This because it's simple to see the moralistic view of Muccino in this movie, so even the hardest parts seem normal. To summarise in the first 2 minutes of the movie it would be enough and the aim of the movie were already said. the family saw from a 30 years old, i don't like to see movie that want to show the reality but for be coherent to his thoughts has to push more than the normal the situations. Really good how Muccino put the camera in the right place moving with the carathers and it's the only reason that bring me not sleeping in the cinema though always in the movie scream from the begining. Perhaps it could be good to see the family how they are in reality and not put the blame to something out of it. Morante was intense and great as usual but unfortunatly on a bad movie!