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My Brother Is an Only Child
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Crime | Drama
Written by:
Antonio Pennacchi (novel "Il Fasciocomunista")
Stefano Rulli
Sandro Petraglia
Daniele Luchetti
Directed by: Daniele Luchetti
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 28, 2008
DVD: August 5, 2008
Running Time: 108 minutes, Color
Origin: Italy / France
Language(s): Italian
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Elio Germano, Riccardo Scamarcio, Angela Finocchiaro, Luca Zingaretti, Anna Bonaiuto, and Massimo Popolizio
Already a smash in its native Italy, My Brother is an Only Child, which was presented at this year's Cannes and Toronto film festivals, reunites director Daniele Luchetti with longtime collaborators Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli, best known as screenwriters of the highly acclaimed The Best of Youth. Set in a small Italian town in the '60s and '70s, the film tells the story of two brothers who want to change the world--but in completely different ways. The elder, Manrico, is a handsome, charismatic firebrand who becomes the prime mover in the local Communist party. Accio, the younger, more rebellious brother, finds his own contrarian voice by joining the reactionary Fascists. What starts as a typical tale of sibling rivalry becomes a story of the polarizing and paralyzing politics of those turbulent times. The rift between the brothers is further intensified when Accio realizes that he loves his brother's girlfriend, Francesca, who like everyone else is blind to Manrico's increasingly dangerous ideas. (THINKFilm)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
TV Guide Ken Fox
There's a hilarious performance of a "de-fascisized" version of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," and the soundtrack prominently features an Italian version of the crypto-fascist girl-group classic "I Will Follow Him," a joke Kenneth Anger first made in "Scorpio Rising" that's still funny today.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
Moviegoers of a certain age may feel as though they are watching a lost Bertolucci film.
Read Full Review >Empire Ross Bennett
Thanks to the captivating performances, this is well worth checking out.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Petraglia and Rulli once again display their gift for bringing the texture of reality to family drama, for creating people and situations that involve us completely. My Brother Is an Only Child is not the only film that does this, but it's a product that's in shorter and shorter supply every year.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Sid Smith
It’s a history lesson, a look at ’60s strife inside a corner far removed from our more familiar American images of that era. It’s also brightly performed, from sullen, boorish, yet charismatic Scamarcio to the instinctive, charming, infuriating characterization by Germano.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
Though it's well-cast and convincingly captures the look and feel of its era, the film loses steam as Accio's story meanders to a predictable conclusion.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
My Brother Is an Only Child isn't a critique of the left but a film about the consequences and responsibility of "political action." Luchetti measures social justice not in ideals but in positive change and the compassion with which it is accomplished.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego
A provocative character study and portrait of the times.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Great title, and the whiff of existential loneliness that it conjures up – brothers locked not in solidarity but in solitude – permeates the entire movie.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
What makes My Brother Is an Only Child so alive and entertaining is how it dramatizes the endless tug-of-war between political conviction and personal experience--the way the lines twist and blur and finally implode.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
A lively minor addendum to the grand tradition of Italian fraternal cinema.
Read Full Review >Variety Jay Weissberg
Scripted by "The Best of Youth" duo who brought the post-WWII years into stark and moving light, pic offers a warm humor that illuminates the defiant vista of hope even when the proceedings turn tragic.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Nick Pinkerton
Tumultuously shot "rawness" is the stylistic house rule, but it's Elio Germano's Accio who vitalizes the film.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Although the movie never quite dispels the sense of being dated (it could have been made anytime in the past 40 years), it's a memorable, often moving timepiece.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt
I suppose, in the end, My Brother Is an Only Child is a coming-of-age story about a young man who – like the era he was born into – has no idea how to come of age, except by violent fits and starts, in all directions, to varying ends, and ready to change course whenever the mood strikes.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The movie is a veritable scrapbook of tropes from the heyday of art film. Maybe that's why it feels gauzy and quaint. Yet time passes pleasantly.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Michael Atkinson
The rough-and-tumble tone is bitterly entertaining but in the end doesn't contribute to a convincing historical portrait, and a pileup of half-baked resolutions spoils the buzz.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Novak G. gave it a9:
Deeply engaging, clever and funny movie.Acting is superb! No need to say that, at some point, I had a huge sympathy for the younger brother who is fascist, even though I have always been on the other -left-side...
