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VANCOUVER PREMIERE // VANCITY THEATRE EXCLUSIVE
The contrasting lives of two brothers provide the narrative fuel for Daniele Luchetti’s finely honed portrait of Italian society in the turbulent sixties and seventies. The era was one of considerable disquiet, and this confusion plays out against the unsettled and convoluted relationship that evolves over the years between Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio) and his younger brother, Accio (Elio Germano). Luchetti and co-screenwriters Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli (responsible for the highly successful The Best of Youth) sketch a beautifully modulated tale of rivalry, love and political differences. Set in Latina, a town created by Mussolini out of the Pontine Marshes in the thirties, My Brother Is an Only Child revolves around a working-class family who find themselves confronting stark ideological and personal choices.
The film begins in the early sixties, when the rebellious young Accio decides that seminary life is not for him. A leader of the local Fascist movement who is an admirer of Mussolini and stridently anti-American fills the boy’s head with talk of restoring Italy’s lost glories. However, Manrico sits on the other side of the political fence. He quickly gravitates toward the Communist party and begins organizing local factory workers. The two brothers manage to remain friends despite their divergent beliefs, but their relationship undergoes a different kind of challenge when Accio’s attraction to Manrico’s girlfriend, also a committed left-wing organizer, becomes apparent.
Luchetti effectively balances both the competing emotions and the politics at play in the film, never allowing either to overwhelm his material. Passions and commitments ebb and flow, and the only lesson to be learned from these youthful emotions is that nothing is certain or predictable. Both brothers face choices that affect their personal and public lives, while learning that the bonds of family are not to be taken lightly. While politics may well be divisive, they are also transient and, as people grow older, different realities and feelings come into being. My Brother Is an Only Child captures the full spectrum of what this means to a family living through uncertain times. — Piers Handling, TIFF '07
"as lively, witty, funny and intelligent a meditation on Italy’s Fascist inheritance as we’re likely to get. "—Timeout London
Daniele Luchetti was born in Rome. He began his career as an assistant director and actor in films by Nanni Moretti. He made his directorial debut in 1988 with It’s Happening Tomorrow, which received a special mention at the Cannes Film Festival. His other films include La Settimana della Stinge, The Yes Man, School, Little Teachers, Ginger and Cinnamon and My Brother Is an Only Child.
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