Again, I have seen one of those movies which leave you with a feeling of having seen something truly beautiful and touching. It's set in an italian community in Australia in the 1950.
It feels exactly like an old movie, and that's probably why the clichés seem to fit. Maybe it's because it's a collaboration between australian, english and italian film makers, but the clichés don't seem so forced and fake, they're not trying to force a reaction (the jokes are much better, the irony which is in no way malevolent, keeps you laughing way after the joke is over - it's contagious that's all I can say) they're just there, and fit in with the characters. Connie is a very good example of a cliché, reminding me of a wanna-be filmstar at the beginning, by the end you realize she is supposed to seem a little fake until she can accept herself (it's something everybody can connect with).
Angelo, who at the beginning seems extremely weird and maybe over the top with his "godfather" voice, turns into a smart, wise, sensitive man by the end of it.
To make it short, this is a romantic artistic movie which captures that oldfashioned feeling of life before we became consumed by shopping, and life seemed much simpler. It has that charm of chocolat, of different cultures and traditions, but at the same time the realism of Lost in Translation :it knows when to stop the music and makes you stop and think "I had that feeling as well, I know exactly what that's like!". The actors are wonderful, especially Warner gives the movie half its charm, but by the end, I was much more entranced by Angelo and Connie.
It's romantic, a bit oldfashioned, and most definitely italian. But it's still about life, and being accepted for who you are, not to mention falling hopelessly in love.


I really wish this movie would have gotten better critiques, especially on the internet where the few critiques I could find condemned it as syrupy and appropriate for school age children only because sex, drugs and alcohol don't have such a big role in it. Which I think is trying to put it into a box of ratings, and measuring it on the modern day standard (most films today are more action than story), which simply doesn't fit, since it's meant to have happened about 50 years ago.