I'll take the unpopular view on Italian cinema - I love it, and I loved "Il Dolce e L'Amaro". Having seen as many contemporary Italian films as I could get my hands on, there is one thing that I will never figure out, and that is why there is no respect for Italian movies made today. No respect from America certainly, but more importantly, little from Italians themselves. I've yet to meet an Italian that does not turn up his nose at the movies made in his country.
I don't get it, and I respectfully disagree with them. Luigi LoCascio is better than most of today's popular American actors. He is more subtle and yet more expressive. He doesn't require car crashes and explosions to make his movies exciting. He understands how a story is told even if many of us have lost the patience to listen to one without special effects. His last film, "Mare Nero" was truly boring but I've seen all of his other movies and liked them very much.
"Il Dolce e L'Amaro" is not neither the average Mafia story or a story just about the Mafia. It's a very well told story about a man's life, told without the usual clichés that American film makers like to throw into Mafia movies. It's a story about family and justice, and it's a great crime story.
This film kept my attention from beginning to end and is every bit as good if not better than the American movies that I've seen recently.
