User reviews

The story is centered in the Italian community of Curitiba, which is struggling to maintain their unique identity and ties to their homeland while evolving as an integral part of the Brazilian cultural landscape. The film opens on the birthday party of Giuseppe (Anthony Quinn) the 93-year-old patriarch of the Padovani family, who is a broken man who has lost the will to live, to love and even to walk. At the party he meets Sofia D'Angelo (Leticia Spiller), a young family member from Italy who has come to Brazil to research her roots. Sofia is the image of Giuseppe's beautiful young wife who died in a plane crash sixty years earlier. Her presence in the family serves as a catalyst for everyone to rediscover their dreams. Through her, Guiseppe and his family throw off the bounds of their current lives and find the road to true happiness, no matter how painful or impossible that road may seem. Anthony is a pure delight as the mesmerizing Giuseppe. Quinn is joined in the cast by his son, Lorenzo Quinn, who plays him as a young man and also his grandson, who has a small walk-on part. This film is rich is story, scenery and context. I highly recommend it.

I saw this film just because I like checking all Brazilian production. It's funny that here in Brazil almost all of the spectators had to read the subtitles because most of the dialogues is spoken in Italian. If you see the film as a whole you'll find it quite boring and uninteresting; but if you take your time to analyse its parts you may find it quite good. In fact, the main actor, Anthony Quinn, has a very good interpretation; the storyline is very interesting and well composed but the rest of the characters are presented superficially, so they are not able to show us any deep feeling. Paulo Betti can't convince us and Letícia Spiller, who plays very well in Brazilian soap operas, behaves as if she was playing at first time in a movie. The cinematography has some visible flaws; the sound can be considered good but the score should have been done more carefully. All in all, Anthony Quinn and the screenplay are the only good qualities in this film. My vote: 5 out of 10.

A sentimental film, sometimes yes; a forceful film, everywhere: This is one for people liking deftly drafted out persons in a credible plot, slowly told with emphasis on good acting. I have read elsewhere here that this was one of (or even the) last role Anthony Quinn has played. He deserves kudos for his memorable acting (and more than credible Italian he speaks throughout the film). What an actor he was, transmitting great emotions without any artifice...

The film is otherwise memorable for his precise depictions of the Italian community in Curitiba, Brazil. There's all the tragic, yet vivid, new-worldish drama of emigrants in a foreign country and what they lived over the decades. The subsequent generations are more modern and from this clash a resurgence comes that benefits all in the family we get to know in this film.

A clear 9 out of 10 for excellence in filming, realization, acting and, last but not least, the plot. Have a ball, but don't be ashamed to wipe an little tear from you eye when the occasion arises...

The film is a story about love that never ends. Antony Quinn is the grandfather who still misses his lost love from the time of his youth. A new visitor coming to the house brings a secret to that never ending love, while the whole family seems to feel a change in its way of living. Also,the film is interesting because it is possible to see at the scenery parts of Brazil that are not very common to the public in general - for the film is filmed in the South of Brasil. The beaches and the big city general theme makes the scenes beautiful and full of surprise for a public who would expect to see the standard Brazilian scenery of Rio, football, Carnival or Amazonia. Antony Quinn's wonderful performance makes of this film a jewel. It should be seen by anyone who is interested in beautiful, profound themes in exotic lands.

Two years ago my wife and I enjoyed this movie in San Francisco during the "Festival de Cine Latino". I am aware that some people may not like to "switch" languages during a feature film (Italian / Portuguese), but I didn't mind since the movie reminded me my childhood days when we talked Spanish at home and English outside.

Experienced Brazilian actors who are all new to me performed well. A strong performance by Leticia Spiller (Caterina Padovani / Sofia D'Angelo) and Gabriela Duarte (Patty) who resolves well her struggle to reconcile her career with family and dreams. Also, Paulo Betti (Renato Padovani) lets the viewer develop early feelings to his character.

I am happy this film is finally now on its commercial release - AT MOVIE THEATERS - so more people ... regardless of their Latino or Italian background, will get to see Mr. Quinn's final masterpiece where it was meant to be: on the screen.

Anthony Quinn is great in this soulful and moving film. He's inexplicably riveting as a 93-year-old patriarch who doesn't do anything and may or may not have any idea what's going on around him in his family. It seems to me that there were some other characters in the story too.