Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

Uncle Nino, a 2003 movie, springs from a good idea, the encounter between the ancient and the modern culture in order to produce a chain reaction that leads to a final balance. Unfortunately, the film steps on some trite common sense when it tries to brings tenderness and sentiment into the daily life of a dysfunctional family.

After decades, uncle Nino reappears to visit the gravestone of his brother to whom funeral he couldn’t be present. Landing in amazing “America”, uncle Nino is enchanted by this country so different from his home village, presumably someplace in Tuscany, with stone house, garden, sunshine, flowers and dogs. The original peace is substituted by the cold and distant ways of his nephew and family. Familiar life is there extinct, the husband works only, the wife, like as a patient Penelope, waits for things get better, the children seek solace each in his and her own way, the girl longing for a dog, the boy playing hard music in a band (just for a change).

The family has lost its center. They don’t eat together, don’t talk, don’t relate. In this typical advanced society scenario uncle Nino enters full of the Italian feeling that governs hospitality and Read the rest of this entry »

In times of holidays, kin reunions and joy are expected. Not always, though, the heart is happy. Family life is one of the biggest challenges of our times. Blood bonding doesn’t guarantee likely mentalities and values. As for everything, there are the conservatives who adapt themselves and don’t question, and the restless who look for something more than the shining superficiality of the appearances. Read the rest of this entry »