No Limite das Emoções

"Remember my Name", directed by Gabriele Muccino, kept reminding this viewer about his previous film, "The Last Kiss", because in both, the main characters at the center of each story are named Carlo and Giulia. Could this 2003 has anything to do with the other one? Or was it just a coincidence? We don't get any actual fact to tie both movies together, but in a way, the two movies deal with an inner crisis that the two Carlos must face and come to terms with.

This new film has a frenetic pace in the first hour. It seems as though Giulia and Carlo's relationship is strained, despite the somehow normal family life they lead. This is a film that asks a lot from its viewers, as they try to keep pace with the quick tempo Mr. Muccino gives the picture.

It's clear to see that things aren't exactly the best between husband and wife. Carlo is at a point in his life where he can't deal with a job he doesn't care about and Giulia wants to go back to an acting career that didn't materialize when she married Carlo. Valentina, the young daughter, wants to pursue a career in television where beauty and a fast friends view her as a desired commodity. Paolo, the son, is an uncool youth who wants to belong in a world he is not cut out for.

When the gorgeous Alissia enters the picture, Carlo can't resist seeing her again; they have been lovers before, but have lost track of each other in the succeeding years. Their relationship has a negative effect on both households, as Alissia is by now married, and Carlo loses his head when he decides to quit his job and renew his relationship with Alissia. When Carlo suffers a freak accident that sends him to the hospital for a long time, Giulia and the children rally to support him. In fact, this should be something to change Carlo's attitude in forgetting Alissia, but is it? We realize the accident and his gratitude to his wife and kids will be questioned again when we see him in the final moments of the film in the supermarket where he sees Alissia with her two young children as they make last minute Christmas preparations.

Fabrizio Bentivoglio makes us care for the complex Carlo, a man whose passion has been dormant for a long time. Laura Morante, plays Giulia, the woman who has to make choices and wants to keep everyone together. Monica Belucci is seen as Alissia, the one that never stopped loving Carlo.

The movie has a great look thanks to the camera work of Marcello Montarsi. The music by Paolo Buonvino is also an asset in the film. Gabriele Muccino, with this new movie proves to be an important voice in the Italian cinema today and we await for his new film with interest.

I am not a big fan of Muccino, and this movie didn't change my opinion. What I don't like is the ambiance and the social setting of his movies -it is too often the same Roman middle class, kind of leftist, ordinary people and the same Roman settings that probably reflect his life, family and friends, it looks like Muccino can not direct a movie with different stories, people and situations. This one is full of stereotypes and quite predictable - it is still a nice movie, with some good acting and dialogues, but there is nothing really new. Laura Morante and Gabriele Lavia are good, and when they are on screen together the movie is worth watching. The other actors are OK, but nothing really memorable. The happy (?) ending is definitely meaningless

In the dysfunctional Italian middle-class family Ristuccia, the middle-aged executive Carlo (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) has a stalled life without passion, bored in his work and having a monotonous life with his wife Giulia (Laura Morante). Giulia is a frustrated and hysterical woman because she gave up of being an actress in her youth to dedicate to the family. Their needy son Paolo (Silvio Muccino) feels lost and rejected, trying to find who he is and flirting with a schoolmate. Their seventeen years old daughter Valentina (Nicoletta Romanoff) is decided to work in a television show, and is fighting to have an audition. When Carlo meets his former sweetheart Alessia (Monica Bellucci) in a class reunion, they confess to each other that their marriages are in crisis and both feel passion arising again. Meanwhile Giulia is invited to an audition in a stage production and to participate of a play. Paolo tries to make friends using marijuana in his birthday party, and Valentina has sex with different guys trying to be a dancer of the famous TV show 'Ali Babbi'. Their relationships change when Carlo has an accident.

Two years ago, I saw "L'Ultimo Bacio" on DVD, a beautiful and delightful movie about relationship in different phases of life directed by Gabriele Muccino. I was impressed with this director, and recently it was released "Recordati di me" on DVD in Brazil. I have just watched and it is amazing the sensibility of this director with the dynamics and feelings of a family, presenting a tale of passion, frustration and dreams. The realistic relationships between the members of this common middle-class family is disclosed though the lost dreams and passions of the parents, and the dreams and aspirations of their son and daughter. The cast is amazing, with a sensational Laura Morante, the stunning Monica Bellucci, the sexy Nicoletta Romanoff and the impressive Fabrizio Bentivoglio and Silvio Muccino, all of them perfect in their respective roles. This movie is recommended for those viewers that want to see a realistic, full of sentiments and never corny dramatic tale. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "No Limite das Emoções" ("In the Limit of the Emotions")

Soap opera enthusiasts will love this film. Each scene telegraphs what predictable nonsense will follow. The only element rising above such overwrought displays is generally apt use of camera and sound to capture an authentic flavor of life in a neurotic sort of middle-class Italian household, circa early twenty-first century.

The plot is too obvious even to discuss in this forum. Others may do so, but I consider it an exercise analogous to a dog chasing its tail. Each main character is moreover annoying to the point of inviting frenzy as the only resolution to trying to understand what, exactly, each one is about. There is as well much shouting and physically running around, cell phones in hand.

Watch it for its sets, its scenery, its depiction of contemporary Italy -- a cosmopolitan milieu eschewing travelogue vistas in favor of modern kitchens, television studios, and panoramic street scenes in residential neighborhoods.

Providing, of course, that there is nothing better on the adjacent channel.

Ok, we read/heard/saw a lot here in Italy about Muccino's new production before its release and perhaps i was somehow expecting too much when I finally saw it. The movie deals with the difficulties of an italian family whose members either face their youth's broken dreams or try (too?) hard to make them become real.

It opens nicely: the characters' personalities are presented in a lively and pleasant way. Carlo's (F. Bentivoglio) routine life is shaken up after meeting casually a former love from high school, Alessia (M. Bellucci); both turn out to be left unsatisfied by their present situation, for slightly different reasons however (one lost his ambitions of becoming a writer, the other is simply hurt by the husband's behavior). They feel attracted by each other again, then decide to catch this opportunity for a brand new start. Carlo's frustrated wife Giulia (L. Morante) once wanted to be an actress on stage but ends up a school teacher because supposedly of her husband's jealousy. It's at the moment her daughter Valentina (N. Romanoff) decides to become a TV starlet that she's offered her first role. Few can be said concerning Carlo's pot-smoking son, Paolo. Well, he appears in sharp contrast with all the other protagonists by his lack of ambitions; his main problem appears to be finding (and keeping) a girlfriend.

I really enjoyed the first hour: the rhythm goes higher and higher as the main two characters start again to burn for each other. The scene between Carlo and his boss is simply fantastic in the italian version. Monica Bellucci looks very natural as a beautiful and decided mother in her late thirties. The action is well served by a succession of short but efficient scenes with a very mobile camera and sharp dialogs.

Afterwards, the movie sinks into a moralistic tale for conventional italian middle-class. A long description of the superficial and twisted world of TV where Valentina wants to dig her own hole at any cost; is there anything original inside all that ? Besides, not a single minute is spent on her feelings; could it be a 17yrs old girl with no apparent problems filled only with egoism and cynicism ? If yes, what about explaining that a little bit ? Meantime Laura Morante shows all her (big) talent in her hysterical scenes but this doesn't save the day because of many shortcomings in the script. Among many others: how it can be that someone who's ready to leave his family completely forgets to call back for days and weeks ? What about the TV guy getting mad in his house because of his child he cannot see: does this bring anything to the movie's main concern ? And this ultimate try of Carlo trying to meet again with Alessia despite the fact it's not known if he's still able to have sex anymore ...

A question raises naturally: why did the director choose to represent every woman (either Alessia or Valentina) who wants to achieve something different compared to the standard italian housewife in such a negative way ? Besides, I've not been able to understand if Carlo's book is crap or not or if Giulia's play is interesting or ridiculous (at least we know it's noisy!). All these points are left open and this prevents the watcher to make any kind of judgement about the adults while the kids are depicted in a simplistic way.

All in all, it could have been a great movie: good actors involved in an interesting plot shot in a beautiful location. However, the second part of the film leaves the impression that the director hasn't been able to make all that stick together and then decided himself for a dull conclusion.

*** out of 5.