Michael e Donna - Um Verdadeiro Amor

In the Bronx Italian-American community, Donna (Annabella Sciorra) and Michael (Ron Eldard) are getting married. There are conflicts building over the preparations and the relationship itself.

This is an early 90's era indie. It has two solid actors in the lead. In the end, I only care about those two characters. The other characters are no more than annoying chatter boxes. It starts slow with the couple being lovey-dovey. The attempted humor like the wedding dinner prep comes off as Italian stereotypes doing comedy. The bachelor party argument is the start of the couple's bickering and I like that. At least, it's interesting. In the end, this is not a highlight of this era's indie movement, but it does showcase a couple of actors and that's good.

I loved this film. As an Italian-American, I could readily identify with the characters in this movie and found it to be very heartwarming and realistic. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about "The Sopranos" which shows Italian-Americans in the most negative and humorless way imaginable. "True Love" depicted the closeness and genuine warmth between family members and friends and made me forget that I was watching a movie. Recommend it highly!

As their wedding date draws closer, two youths grow increasingly uncertain about whether they are ready to get married in this debut feature from 'Dogfight' director Nancy Savoca. The script is by Savoca and her husband (Richard Guay) and the film benefits from showing both sides of the equation. As the boyfriend, Ron Eldard is torn between his bride and his unmarried friends who just want to party; as the girlfriend, Annabella Sciorra wonders if he is mature enough for her. There is some intriguing background information as it is revealed that her parents eloped and as they plan a larger-than-life wedding, it seems like they are mostly interested in making up for what they missed out on. Despite showing both sides though, the film is far more balanced in favour of Sciorra, which makes Eldard seem like a selfish jerk. A more interesting film may have given both sides equal weight rather than leave us wondering what she ever saw in him in the first place. If flawed though, the film survives well on account of great, naturalistic dialogue exchanges and memorable quirks like the option for blue potatoes at the wedding ceremony (!). The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival; no small feat considering that it was competing against 'Heathers' and 'Sex, Lies and Videotape' and other films that have gone onto become better known cult hits.

The leads seem to have either wonderful acting skills, natural chemistry for each other or both. My money is on both. The movie allows the viewer to feel like they are part of the various conversations. You feel like you are at the kitchen table when that scene is shown. It accurately portrays the vast amount of decisions and disconnects that many couples endure when going from the words "will you marry me" to the words "I do". I liked all the supporting actors and actresses' performances. The parents show a good loving chemistry as well. The music is good if you like the 1980's sound (my fav. is Pam Russo's hit "It works for me") . Granted there are no chase scenes or major explosions, but it is a cute romance worth watching.

This film is as about 'slice of Italian life' as you can get..and one without blood shed-..THEN NEWBIES - SCIORRA AND Eldard are amazing as a star crossed hot tailed engage typical Italian/irish couple- Sciorra is drop dead beautiful and still is !!... the charm about the film comes into play with the often witty /eccentric and very colorful supporting cast - in every scene a support actor steals the scene- i love very ethic Italian stories about the family and the cousins and the aunts uncle and cousins and this film fits the bill perfectly . its warm hearted - lively and sooooooooooo true to reality about the angst of love- and marriage -