Amanda

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.

"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.

Quirky whimsy, but aside from a few laughs and interesting storytelling choices, there was not enough heart. Plotless. Amanda might have Borderline Personality Disorder, she tries to force a friendship with a similarly but differently neurodivergent girl, while also trying to secure her first boyfriend. Surreal scenes, quirky little things like having her AI address her as "Sexy Mamma", her irregular friendship with the housemaid, and a horse she connects with better than humans, some witty dialogue. This is no spoiler except to say that there is nothing to spoil. Because the synopsis is all that it is. By the end, we are still unsure whether Amanda has finally found a new friend; everything is too unstable and surreal to say for sure.

This is Carolina Cavalli's directorial debut. The potential is here; her talent is evident. Her other contribution was as co-writer-but not as co-director- on "Fremont", which was significantly more engaging and successful. Anticipating Cavalli's sophomore directorial effort, here is to looking forward to her directing skills matching her writing caliber!

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.

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!