Starring Elio Germano, Riccardo Scamarcio; Directed by Daniele Luchetti
Accio is a fast-mouthed, hot-headed youngster whose indoctrination into Italy’s fascist party puts him at odds with his entire family.
Partially because they’re a tight-knit group of communists, but mostly because they think he’s done it to piss them off.
Beneath this lively joust of political conviction lies the warm and endlessly witty story of a family learning to love itself. Despite Accio’s cantankerous bravado, he remains seductively charismatic, just as the fiery relationship with his brother Manrico, a successful party activist, grows in interesting and unexpected ways: most notably when Accio reveals that it is more than fondness he feels for his brother’s girlfriend. “A fascist in the family is always handy,” she counters.
The clash of ideology that swept Europe in the late ‘60s is effortlessly caught in this delightful, energetic tale. Marred by technical lapses, My Brother is an Only Child soars on story and performance, and in both these regards it triumphs.
As the story navigates toward a captivating if inevitable climax, and the pendulum of fate, fortune and circumstance swings back, Luchetti gives pause to reflect on some of life’s great ironies. Add a ferociously politicised Beethoven, and you’ve got one the better films to be released this year.
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