Io e te

"I'm stepping through the door. And I'm floating in a most peculiar way. And the stars look very different today." – David Bowie, Space Oddity Coming of age can mean many things: sexual awakening, a religious or cultural ritual, or even achieving an academic or artistic goal. In Bernardo Bertolucci's intimate drama, Me and You, however, it is the time when a young man is able to see the world for the first time from a point of view other than his own and learns to give of himself to another human being. Based on a novel by Niccolò Ammaniti, the same author whose novel was the basis for Gabriele Salvatores' 2003 film I'm Not Scared, the film, Bertolucci's first since The Dreamers in 2003 and his first made in Italy in thirty years, is the story of Lorenzo, an isolated fourteen year old boy (Jacopo Olmo Antinori), and Olivia (Tea Falco), his older half-sister, a heroin addict, who inadvertently discover they need each other more than they ever thought possible.

The film opens in the office of a psychiatrist. The first image we see is Lorenzo bent over a chair, prominently displaying his huge mop of black hair while the therapist, confined to a wheelchair (as is Bertolucci), tries to find out what he means when he describes everything as "normal." We never find out what the issues are that led him to the doctor's office, but meeting his overbearing mother, Arianna (Sonia Bergamasco) in the following scene gives us a clue. After telling her at dinner in a restaurant that he wonders whether people are looking at them as lovers because of her youthful appearance, Lorenzo fantasizes out loud about having sex with his mama if they were the sole survivors of a holocaust and needed to repopulate the planet. Embarrassed, she tells him to be quiet but with sort of a glint in her eye.

"If it was a boy, what would you call him?" he asks her but does not get a response. Lorenzo is about to go on a ski trip with his school but it is obvious that he is not keen on the idea, especially when he sees his classmates socializing together outside of the bus. Demanding that his mother drop him off several blocks away so he won't be driving up with his "mommy," it seems as though he has already made up his mind not to go. Using the money given to him for his ski trip, Lorenzo buys enough provisions (including obvious product placements) for seven days.

Carefully avoiding being spotted by the building superintendent, he moves into the hot, crowded basement of his apartment house with his junk food, laptop, an ant farm he purchased for the occasion to keep him company, and a copy of Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat, translated into Italian. Lorenzo's peace and quiet is soon disturbed, however, when his half-sister Olivia, a former artist and photographer, shows up asking for a place to stay while she tries to kick her drug addiction "cold turkey" in preparation for meeting her lover in the country. Although the affection they first show each other would not make a very good love story, they gradually grow closer as he begins to move beyond his own concerns.

Lorenzo tries to help Olivia get through her heroin withdrawal symptoms, caring about her health while bringing her food and sleeping pills.Through their interaction, he seems to grow in self-confidence and peeks out of his shell to see that there is a world outside of his cocoon. Though there are painful moments, Me and You is not a dark film but one that is brightened by the potential of two damaged souls coming together and experiencing love. Olivia tells him that she is a Buddhist and that the reality is that they are one and only their point of view keeps them apart, a sentiment movingly apparent when they dance together to the David Bowie song Space Oddity, translated into an Italian version.

Me and You is a small film but a lovely one, without clichés or pretensions, a film that draws you into its characters and allows you to feel that you have made some good friends. Apropos of the film's title, Bertolucci takes us all the way from a "me or you" world to one that has a place for "me and you," one that is inclusive and filled with beauty, and in which we know that, for Lorenzo and Olivia, nothing will ever again be "normal."

I like it. it is not a revelation/surprise/piece from Bertolucci chain. it is only a common story about family, about a meeting and refuges. and nothing more. a delicate picture about small significant things. interesting young actors and waters of a special atmosphere. realistic, gray, circle of nuances, seductive and almost real beautiful, it is a mixture of ordinary life crumbs and a strange poem. a teenager and his sister. dialogs, feelings, silences. and a Bertolucci after experiments, storms, scandal. because, after an extraordinary trip, it is time for reflection. a film like a box with surprises. first - Jacopo Olmo Antinori in a promising role. then - Tea Falco. so, it is not a bad idea to see it ! not for director or for cast. but for a meeting with art to transform in movie few common pieces from common life.

Lorenzo, a 14 year old boy, pretends to embark on a school trip to a ski resort and takes refuge in the basement of his building. When his step sister suddenly appears, the experience of both will become unforgettable.

The last feature film by Bernardo Bertolucci, the director who gave us The Last Emperor and The Last Tango in Paris.

It's essentially a film about the social pressure that teens are facing nowadays, and how they deal with this problem (Bertolucci was already 73 years old, the topic was a bit risky for him), and the final result is an ok film, but far from being memorable.

The story lacks on the characters background, but it does have what it takes to keep it from being tedious, thanks to the performances of Jacopo Antinori and Tea Falco.

The fact that only scratchs the surface of the issues and problems of the characters makes it difficult to connect with them.

his mark defines each scene. but different by your expectations. because it has the virtue to be more than a version of others films by him. because it is not exactly a manifesto or example of fall of rules, or demonstration of sensuality. in a special sense, it is a poem. about solitude, about words, about evolution of a meet and about the reflection of the other in yourself. a boy, a girl and a basement. confessions , memories and a link who is defined by different changes. and a form of tenderness who escapes from ordinaries definitions. because nothing provocative or strange or eccentric is present. so, a special film. or, maybe, a different Bertolucci.

I saw this film at the Rotterdam film festival 2013, within the Spectrum section. I was not thinking much of it when reading the synopsis on the festival website, imagining the confinements of the plot: watching two people in the basement, lasting nearly 2 hours. But someone else made the choice for me to book tickets anyway. I'm glad to it, and admit wholeheartedly that my prejudice was in error.

Firstly, the young actor who plays the 14-year old boy, does a formidable job. He is believable throughout as a boy who does not interact smoothly with the world, passing the day with his own solitary hobbies. Instead of going on a ski camp with his schoolmates, he dutifully prepares staying in the basement for a whole week, and takes a lot of trouble not to tell a soul about him hiding there. He wants to be left alone; that is very clear from the start.

Secondly, his unexpectedly visiting half-sister is also remarkable in how she interacts with the boy. She pressures him to allow her in while having no place else to stay. She visibly suffers a cold turkey after her heroine addiction, a painful process she has solid reasons to go through, and to come out of it clean. She wants to regain her former life as a successful photographer, and to reunite with a former friend she knew years ago. In spite of not having personal experience with recovering from a drug addiction, I have the impression that the whole painful process is shown very well. It is one of the reasons bringing brother and half-sister closer together. They do not become intimate in the literal sense (Is that a spoiler? Did you expect it?), as far as we are able to observe. In spite of their differences in age and street wiseness, a certain form of mutual understanding is definitely reached.

The story develops slowly but steadily, and has no boring moments whatsoever. Ample variety is brought in, by including a few scenes outside the basement, and other albeit short interactions with some outsiders. Another plus is that the story does not develop in the most straightforward direction. For example, there is not even a hint that one of them wants sex with the other, as would be assumed by everyone reading the synopsis. Their situation is difficult, to say the least, and discovery is always lurking around the corner.

All in all, I'm not disappointed in the end result. It may not par up with some monumental films that Bertolucci made many years ago, but can that be construed as a problem?? Casting and acting can make or break a scenario like this, in this case with great success. The story left us with an open end, but I think that there was no other way, so also not a problem. This film ended 13th (out of 178) for the audience award with an average score of 4.401 (out of 5) from 1,524 votes.