Customer Reviews

The Last Kiss

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

THE LAST KISS (L'ULTIMO BACIO) is writer/director Gabriele Muccino's astute view of relationships in contemporary Italy, a country long regarded as having marriages of convenience while masquerading affairs of the heart outside of the marriage. Muccino manages to examine a group of young men who are either 1)married with child and longing for the passion of yesterday 2) incapable of maturing into the role of committed adult 3) enjoying a non-married relationship until the specter of pregnancy threatens the passing of youthful freedom and lust or 4) sleep-around guys who can't move beyond an evening's moment of lust. There are many stories and films about today's youth being unable to partner for long-term relationships, but Muccino has the wisdom to have parallel stories about the parents of some of these youths and how middle age (and the threat of becoming grandparents) resurrects the fears of initial commitment.

Set beautifully in Italy and populated with an extraordinarily gifted ensemble of actors, this film is a roller coaster ride through the astringent downs and cascading highs of Love. Stefano Acorsi and Giovanna Mezzogiorno are the main couple whose lives we examine and it is their coming to grips with commitment when their fantasy love affair is altered by pregnancy. They both are superb and it is due to their credibility that the whole series of stories their situation initiates gathers our compassion. There is much to be learned from this sensitive film, and even more to be entertained. A sparkling survey of love, Italian Style!

This wonderful Italian movie is about relationships, from the point of view of four men in their early thirties who have them, but don't fully understand what a good relationship is about. There are lots of stories, but one theme: love, betrayal, and the growing pains of men who refuse to grow up. One of them, Paolo (Claudio Santamaria), sums up quite well the feeling of the four friends: "To give sense to life," he says, "you have to escape, change".

The main couple is that formed by Carlo (Stefano Acorsi) and Giulia (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), a young couple that has been living together for a long while and that seem to be doing very well together until the moment in which Giulia tells Carlo that she is pregnant. The direct result is that Carlo feels trapped and has a mid-life crisis, and ends up having an affair with a beautiful high-school student (Martina Stella). Actions have reactions, though, and everything will change for him, Giulia, and the lives of those around them. That includes Giulia's parents, whose marriage goes through a strong crisis at the same time Giulia discovers what Carlo did.

Gabriele Muccino's "The last kiss" ("L'ultimo bacio") will allow you to enjoy interlinked stories that deal with subjects very pertinent to today's society, the temptations it presents, and most people's refusal to grow up. You will watch the development of many stories, but Carlo and Giulia's is the main one around which all the others revolve. All of them give us an useful lesson: how many ways we may find to sabotage our own relationships. In most cases, it is up to us whether we destroy one, or take care of it. I guess that, in the last instance, we should decide what we really want and act accordingly.

All in all, I can say that I highly enjoyed this film. It is interesting and witty, and it isn't overly pessimistic despite its subject. I think that you will love it, if you like intelligent movies that also happen to be entertaining and sharp, and that have a somewhat ironic ending. If that is the case, I strongly recommend "The last kiss" to you.

Belen Alcat

Il film racconta con estremo realismo in tutta la prima parte (e oltre) l'incredibile confusione mentale a cui e' pervenuta la societa' moderna, libera finalmente dai tabu' sessuali e dal giogo delle proibizioni, ma esposta molto piu' di prima alla impreparazione nella vita di relazione.
Soprattutto per la vita di coppia e' inevitabile il sapersi adeguare alle situazioni di compromesso, se non proprio di rinuncia, se si vuole pervenire ad una esistenza che, pur nella ricerca della felicita' completa, possa dare almeno un buon grado di serenita'.
Fino al punto (nel film) in cui lei (la ragazza incinta) acconsente a restare ugualmente con lui anche se lui l'ha tradita, il film e' una sequela persino esagerata di situazioni negative, dove tutti, dai giovani alle coppie mature, sono delusi, stressati, angosciati e desiderosi di iniziare un capitolo nuovo della propria vita.
L'esagerazione appare persino evidente nell'assegnazione del ruolo di moglie insoddisfatta e "schizzata" a Stefania Sandrelli che, sia pure nella sua innegabile bravura di attrice, nel ruolo e' assolutamente fuori posto. Cosi' come le parole che il regista fa dire al marito di lei in quella fase del film; parole che uno psichiatra (il mestiere di lui) non potrebbe mai dire a nessuno, tantomeno alla moglie.
La Sandrelli e' invece perfettamente nel suo ruolo verso la fine del film quando (la protagonista che lei interpreta) accortasi che non e' nella liberta' di andarsene e nel tradire che puo' trovare la serenita' interiore, assume il ruolo decisamente piu' congeniale per lei di donna non solo bella, ma anche comprensiva, amorevole e saggia.
Anche nella scena finale del film il regista rilascia un messaggio esplicito facendo vedere la giovane protagonista del film che corre da sola in un parco, avvicinata da uno che vorrebbe corteggiarla. Qui Muccino trae lo spunto per mostrare lei che non si ferma; continua a correre con un sorrisetto sulle labbra lasciando intendere: "Lo so, potrei farlo e probabilmente mi piacerebbe anche, ma so anche cosa potrebbe succedere. Davvero dovrei rischiare la mia felicita' per una avventuretta che puo' finire in disastro gia' il giorno dopo?".
Ecco, in conclusione mi sento di dire che questo e' un film bello e utile; ma solo se lo si interpreta nel modo giusto. Non si puo' prendere come assolutamente probabile il finale positivo del film. Ci sono nel film innumerevoli situazioni che nella realta' spesso si concludono in tragedia. Vedere il film senza coglierne il vero significato potrebbe dare un messaggio addirittura negativo a chi lo vede.
Il regista dunque ha scelto quel finale perche' era l'unico che gli consentisse di concludere con un messaggio di speranza e di avvertimento insieme: non basta la liberta' a garantire la felicita' anzi, la liberta' se non e' moderata e gestita in modo intelligente e responsabile puo' condurre al caos e alla infelicita'.
La felicita', come ogni onesta ricchezza di questo mondo, bisogna sapersela costruire giorno per giorno, anche con sacrificio.
Come ultima evidenza critica direi che bisogna comunque tener conto che, pur essendo le situazioni narrate nel film abbastanza frequenti nella realta' della societa' italiana, sarebbe un luogo davvero comune generalizzarle. Ci sono ancora oggi in Italia un sacco di giovani e di famiglie (la chiamerei una maggioranza silenziosa) che vivono le proprie esperienze sentimentali e sessuali in modo del tutto piu' equilibrato, tradizionale e responsabile.
Roberto Marchesi

My take on the movie is that it's about men who refuse to grow up. A group of young Italian men is acting out, either through not being fully present in his marriage, not fully committing to his pregnant girlfriend, sleeping around, or not letting go of an ex-girlfriend. As a woman, I found this mildly annoying through much of the movie, but in the end I have to admit I enjoyed the light treatment of the subject. The acting is good, the cinematography beautiful. What's not to like?

I watch around ten movies a week, so I'm not so often moved by a film.
This is different. This film I loved. Is a piece of life.
No wonder it was record breaking when it was released in Italy. Five Donatellos¨(the italian oscar) to his record.
But the important thing is how this movie deals with everyday drama.
For this movie is a romantic comedy as well as an horror film.
The actors are simply magnificent, And the cinematographic aproach to the plot is superb, original and fresh.
I can't recomend this film enough.
Do yourself a favor ... and enjoy it!

I don't know why this movie is marketed as a comedy. This movie focuses on friendship of four male friends. You probably can compare that with Sex and the City to a certain extent. There is the long-hair dude who fornicates with a new girl on a constant basis; a new father who is juggling with fatherhood & coping with his domineering wife who constantly thinks that he's not good enough; a sensitive traveller who doesn't want to be tied down by the business bequeathed by his dying father and his uncle & yet, funnily enough, attaching himself to his previous girlfriend who has since moved on; the main character who has a beautiful live-in partner who's pregnant with his child and suddenly, his mid-life crisis hits a full stride having to confront with buying a new house, being a father. To stir the pots further, the parents of his live-in partner also have a marriage crisis of their own. Of years staying together, they have lost the jest of living and the passion of loving one another. The wife wants badly to communicate with the husband & yet, the husband isn't responding which is rather ironic when the husband himself is a shrink and he gets paid for listening to people. To counter their crisis, they have Don Quixote's scheme of going travelling, having body piercing done, having illicit affairs with other people. In the end, the movie wants to reminds us all that be grateful for what we have and that normality is truly a revolution! A tour-de-force & I can truly say that the performances from all parties are riveting & you literally can feel the passions evoked here. The DVD has got additional features such as deleted scenes. Compulsive watching. Don't miss it!

"The Last Kiss", a remarkable movie from a few years back, tests anyone's patience as a group of young men and women struggle with the rituals of marriage, adulthood and love. Thoroughly Italian, it's amazing there are individuals standing at the end. But they do, and it is fun to watch. Led by a cast that includes the terrific actor Stefano Accorsi (his face is a map of Italy) and Stefania Sandrelli, who struggles through a mid-life crisis, the film produces a riotous wave of emotion. I highly recommend it.

I thought this was a great movie. It had a very deep message, that talked about relationships. How when we fall in love with somebody, it seems like you can't live without that person anymore. And that love is more than about looks, but it has a deeper meaning, that you want to spend the rest of your love with that person, even though he/she isn't perfect. And then of course there is temptation. I believe everyone gets tempted at times. And this movie shows it in a nice way how when we cheat on somebody, what kind of damage that can bring into a relationship, but yet we should forgive. But it seems like this temptation, liasions..affairs, it's like a circle, that never ends, unless we get a control of our emotions/hormones..whatever. It seems like that when a person has an affair or cheats on his/her lover, only afterwards do they realise the mistake they made. That they can't live without the other person, that they want him/her back in their life. Having affairs and cheating destroy relationships and it's very hard to forget something like that. The movie also portrays how we get bored with someone after a while, that when we've been married for 10/20 years, we want something new and exciting in our lives.
This is a very good movie that I recommend, where we can learn what to expect in relationships...good and bad.

Part melodrama and part screwball comedy, this high-spirited Italian film explores the angst and ambiguities of commitment in romantic relationships at the point where "happily ever after" becomes disillusionment and disappointment. A young and unwed father-to-be, balking at the prospect of marriage, finds himself drawn suddenly to a pretty university student more than ten years younger. A friend at the ad agency where he works complains bitterly about the demands of his own marriage and fatherhood. Another friend is torn between his anguish over a girlfriend who has left him, his impatience with his dying father, who is leaving him with a business he abhors, and the desire to flee as far from home as he can get.

A fourth friend, still immersed in the adolescent pursuit of endless variety among bed-mates, observes from the sidelines, completely clueless, while a fifth friend has just married and from the vantage point of the honeymoon can't understand what all the fuss is about. Meanwhile, a middle-aged woman, miserable in a marriage where romance has gone cold, looks for an old boyfriend, with whom she once had an affair.

We are flung from crisis to crisis in this fast-paced intertwining of story lines, where the dialogue is rapid-fire and it takes a speed-reader to consume all the subtitles. When the center no longer holds and like a collapsing carnival ride, characters are landing every which way but on their feet in the final scenes, the filmmakers give us a happily-ever-after ending that we can either buy or not. By this time, it doesn't matter, because they've made their point. In matters of love and lust, we are all pretty clueless.

First, watching arguments in Italians is so much more entertaining than watching them in English: It is musical and poetic. Second, not knowing Italian has its advantages: I chose to watch the Italian version over the English version for the reason that I can ignore the actors and focus on the characters. Third, this is not a comedy, but neither was "I Heart Huckabees" or "Star Wars" (I'm just saying). Fourth, as a dude who's about to hit 30, this movie brings some stuff to light that was always there, but I didn't think about. Fifth, regarding the reviewer's opinion: "The viewer is left with no warm feelings about life's decisions[...]" As if anyone makes only warm and happy decisions in life. Also, this reviewer's opinion is not true: At it's most basic level, this film showed how some people's perceptions change over time, while others simply do not.