Audio By Carbonatix
Muccino (But Forever in My Mind) pays his respects to Fellini (Juliet of the Spirits on television) and Tarantino (a Reservoir Dogs poster), then straddles with aplomb the intergenerational niche he’s carved between. It’s a mostly engaging approach, as confused Gen-Xer Carlo (Stefano Accorsi) struggles with his feelings for his pregnant–and very irritable–girlfriend, Giulia (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), and the literate, hottie teen-ager Francesca (Martina Stella), who craves his love-thang. Meanwhile, Carlo’s friends are plotting their escapes from reality, meaningless flings and one even more irritable wife, while Giulia’s supremely irritable mother (fine veteran Stefania Sandrelli), disgusted with her sagging everything and seemingly stymied husband (Luigi Diberti), plots a fling to rekindle her youth. It’s the usual struggle of growing up and growing old, but Muccino’s twists are plucky and revealing when he’s not suffocating us with heavy-handed mortality and pathos. Only seems a shame that the two wisest, least insane characters (old man and young chick) never hook it up.
