Me and You

I bit late to the party, but Bertoluccis latest(last) effort is a fine one indeed. This movie is a celebration to human relationships, and the potential in them for change. Why face the immediate hardships of life when you can be an angry spectator. Why have human relationships when they can hurt you. Why open up, when there is pain and suffering. Why need others when alone you are in control. This film tells you why.

This odd coming of age film set in an cellar describes the process of a relationship where in the end you feel like change is possible. This is a beautiful feeling indeed. And I thank Bertolucci for this.

See this film.

Huh. I guess this is one of those films that I probably like more than a lot of others (at least those who have seen Me and You outside of the US, here it never got an official release after a very limited run in NYC in 2014 I missed). Bertolucci, in his mastery with an eye that feels alive without being outlandish, manages to convey that extremely intense, sometimes confused, always passionate, vulnerable, stupid, immature sense of one's self and the world around when one is at 14 years old.

Maybe it is just from my time as a dipshit loner 14 year old, certainly not always in agreement with my parental units, who felt most at peace - or actually in unrest but at least it can be an escape inside - witp rock music and a pair of headphones (I didnt have the ant-farm though, or the Armadillo, poor little guy hope he or she wad OK, I digress). Or maybe it's the honest, definitely uncomfortable, almost pathological depiction of a love-hate bond with a sibling who can seem so bright and wise one moment and is a furnace of bile the next (the addiction and withdrawal, like a quarter of this film is a young lady withdrawing cold turkey and Tea Falco is committed to a 1000% and God bless her for it).

The film is limited by being set largely in a basement, but again the camerawork is always curious and active and definitely on edge, like you can feel through the lens choices there's unbridled hormones and a love for 80s and 90s rock glowing through it all, and while I don't know if I'd call Olmo Antinori as profound a performer as Bertolucci has had in his career that's also a tall order to reach up to. For what he's asked to do here, which is to play an angry introvert who doesn't know what to do with himself and slowly comes out of his angst-addled and probably OCD packed shell, he commits to the bit and is compelling.

I can get why some seem to be annoyed by his acting (or in part the character himself) since he is yelling a lot and acting out, but I found a strange empathy with him despite (or partly because) of the small scale yet still extremes of the premise of the story; it's about being okay with the troubles that go through your mind every day, especially if it's not all that complicated (he seems to live a fairly decent middle class upbringing), and sometimes an outside perspective is the only way to change.

I don't know if Lorenzo changes by the time we get that 400 Blows inspired final freeze frame, though I don't think Bertolucci means to suggest he is in as much despair as Antoine Doinel. On the contrary, he seems to have more of a look like (can't believe this just popped in my head) Peter Parker in Spider-Man 2 at the end of the "Raindrops" montage. What will worry him now?

He's gone through a helluva week he didn't expect to have with his half sister - and for the record, no incest, in case you were wondering considering some of the director's past work (from Before the Revolution to the Dreamers), he and I assume the author of the book are after a more fundamental exploration of a sibling push and pull than that reduction - and he's come out the other end understanding himself better. Maybe. Or at least her. And that life is not going to get much easier so time to "grow up." If the film does get so anxious like its character a couple of times, it helps that it all comes together in the last twenty minutes or so.

Not a great final film, but a good one and I'm glad I finally got to see it and be one of maybe dozens I tell you dozens of voices that say it's worth a look, especially if you've gone so far into Bertolucci's body of work that just a couple of the obscurities are left. And now I'm in the mood for some Red Hot Chili Peppers!

his mark defines each scene. but different by your expectations. because it has the virtue to be more than a version of others films by him. because it is not exactly a manifesto or example of fall of rules, or demonstration of sensuality. in a special sense, it is a poem. about solitude, about words, about evolution of a meet and about the reflection of the other in yourself. a boy, a girl and a basement. confessions , memories and a link who is defined by different changes. and a form of tenderness who escapes from ordinaries definitions. because nothing provocative or strange or eccentric is present. so, a special film. or, maybe, a different Bertolucci.

I like it. it is not a revelation/surprise/piece from Bertolucci chain. it is only a common story about family, about a meeting and refuges. and nothing more. a delicate picture about small significant things. interesting young actors and waters of a special atmosphere. realistic, gray, circle of nuances, seductive and almost real beautiful, it is a mixture of ordinary life crumbs and a strange poem. a teenager and his sister. dialogs, feelings, silences. and a Bertolucci after experiments, storms, scandal. because, after an extraordinary trip, it is time for reflection. a film like a box with surprises. first - Jacopo Olmo Antinori in a promising role. then - Tea Falco. so, it is not a bad idea to see it ! not for director or for cast. but for a meeting with art to transform in movie few common pieces from common life.

Me and You (Io et Te): Bertolucci's last film, while it may seem insubstantial the touch of a master is still there. Most of the action occurs in a basement - an introverted 14 year old, Lorenzo (Jacopo Olmo Antinori) , pretends to go on a school ski trip but hides in his apartment building's cellar. Then his 25 year old half-sister Olivia (Tea Falco) arrives, having nowhere to stay, she doesn't get on with her stepmother. They hang out together in a storeroom containing the contents of the apartment's previous owner, a Russian Countess.Problems pile up as Olivia is a heroin addict trying to go cold turkey. A touching film which offers hop for the futures of both of the protagonists ( great performances by Falco and Antinori) but certain threats remain. Directed and Co-Written by Bernardo Bertolucci. 8/10.