Amanda

Writer-Director Carolina Cavalli's debut feature features the title character, a 20-something Italian woman (Benedetta Porcaroli) who's an idle, pampered, upper middle class layabout. The solution to her problems at first seems to be when she reconnects with an old childhood friend, Rebecca (Galatea Bellugi) -- who has even more pronounced emotional issues.

For much of it's run-time, AMANDA floats along pleasantly enough on its serio-comic beat, but it never can quite make transition when it addresses the mental illness and emotional instability of either its heroine and her amica. Porcaroli has a real screen presence with her luminous eyes and Bellugi and the always welcome Giovanni Mezzogiorno (as Rebecca's mother) are good in support. AMANDA is a promising debut, flaws and all.

"Amanda" (Benedetta Porcaroli) is a rather indulged twenty-something who has no friends and lives a pretty isolated life devoid of any company that isn't from her immediate - and pretty dysfunctional - family. "Sofia" (Monica Nappo) is her mother and suggests that she goes to see "Rebecca" (Galatéa Bellugi) who is the equally lonesome daughter of her friend "Viola" (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) - only this girl hardly ever leaves her room in their rather ugly, fortress-like, concrete home. After a bit of a Mexican stand-off, the two gradually start to re-bond (they were childhood friends) but you just get the feeling that an upset is never far away - for any of them. It's a quirkily enjoyable film this with two strong performances from the girls and a scene-stealing bath tub scenario involving "Sofia" too. It is funny, offering a sort of observational wit rather than a chortle sort of humour and there are a couple of sub-plots - a boyfriend and an horse - just to ease the temperature a little now and again and allow us to recalibrate on the relationship between the girls and, increasingly, the enigmatic "Ann". There's not really a start or an end, it's just a middle we get here and it works because I'm not sure these girls really made much progress. It doesn't need a cinema, it'll work perfectly well on the telly so give it a go.

Amanda (2022) easily fits the canon of girlhood in film as established by The Virgin Suicides (1999) and Ghost World (2001), but also echoes the listless coming-of-age exploration of The 400 Blows (1959). A character study, the film follows its eponymous protagonist, while Amanda (played by Benedetta Porcaroli) stumbles through life with the wide-eyed grace of newborn Bambi. The setting is that of a town in northern Italy, with the narrative taking to the streets, stopping under a bypass for a rave party, making observations in the darkness of a cinema theatre, and at the dinner table of an aloof bourgeois family.

What sets Amanda apart from the aforementioned pictures is the age of the heroine: twenty-four. As she is continuously reminded by her family, by now Amanda really should know how to make friends, or pay for her own place, or get a grasp on life. In the course of the narrative, it becomes apparent that her inexperience is not for a lack of trying - yet, her very nature is often at odds with her ambitions.

In the aftermath of the pandemic, this story of loneliness, of characters whose lives often shrink to the size of their bedrooms, of overthinking and interruptions, of one's most candid relationship being with the virtual assistant that lives in your phone - all of that has become relatable to audiences for whom the experiences would otherwise remain foreign. On par with Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021), Amanda is among the most considered explorations of forced solitude, such as those exist in the 2020s.

Friendship, romance, family, and self-determination are examined in Carolina Cavalli's directorial debut with a lot of style, thought, and humour. Much like in life, no conclusions are offerred, but the film creates an engrossing atmoshere and plenty of suggestions. Music choices and casting (so many interesting faces!) are noteworthy, as are the performances by Monica Nappo as Sofia, Amanda's mother, and Benedetta Porcaroli, who lends her force and charm to the protagonist.

If the real treasure is the friends we make along the way, Amanda makes a convincing argument about the value of relationships that do not happen: they inform our other choices. That may seem wistful, but the film skillfully balances its meditative quality with the unrelenting optimism of its heroine, for whom all roads remain open.

6.8... the difference between this rating and 10 (or 9 which is a more balanced vote, but I don't care) is the difference between the most refined AND/OR underground viewers' tastes and actually refined tastes.

Amanda is unbelievably funny, well written, well acted, original: elegant yet powerful; simple yet rich.

So rich that I had to watch it in 3 sessions to digest everything - but it may well be more something about me rather than about the movie. Still I felt so satisfied that I didn't want it to end.

I wouldn't know where to start with the details and I fell lazy and not particularly inspired (just like after a great banquet) so I'll leave the reader with more questions than answers. All I feel compelled to add is that this movie is an incredible, wholesome trip through incommunicability, the difficulties of social interactions and everyone's silly thoughts & mental dysfunctions.

First feature of the writer-director Carolina Cavalli who hopefully will keep producing such great quality.

Some hope in the desert that is the italian film industry: can't wait to see what's next!

It doesn't deserve this 81/100 METASCORE, but it's a good movie as long as you know what to expect.

First 20-30 minutes were the best part of this movie, humor was dry and subtle, it was weird in an interesting way. Something like a 90's/00's indie offbeat comedy movie without the pretentiousness. Then, it became more of a drama, comedy element was reduced and it was a bit less interesting. Still, actors were good all the way, characters were likeable at least for me, and overall, it never got boring. This is a story of a girl with some mental issues and her struggles she has to face in her life. I am a man, 20 years older than her but still, i empathized with her. I think this is a movie for all the audiences, male and female, regardless of age. It's offbeat and kinda sweet. Not a movie that i am gonna remember it after 2 weeks, flawed, losing a step during the second half however if you find it interesting as it was described, i think you'll like it as well.

Not a great ending but satisfying.