As a film or piece of art, “La Prima Cosa Bella” is not compelling in any sense of the word. The movie tries to pass itself off as a realistic and tragic story of a dysfunctional and split family, but it fails at the realism part, and is further let down by the work of the writer and director. One of the main points in which the film loses its credibility is in the stylistic choice to make it a traditional comedy rather than a tragedy. It is not believable that a family with this history would meet a conclusion of happiness and flowers. Life is difficult, it is sad, and things often stay broken, like people and relationships. Bruno should not be happy at the end, he should not magically heal from the deep cuts of his childhood, especially in the manner in which it is proposed. Its hard to believe that the family was able to make up through the mother’s illness. Furthermore, it is even harder to be convinced that Anna is genuinely apologizing to her children. I see an old woman who is alone and hated, grasping for some companionship and love on her deathbed. Nothing is genuine about the characters’ actions, not at the fault of the actors, but the script writers. People are not so static in their life, and even if they are, there are far more effective ways of conveying this in a film. Many movies before this have been able to passionately capture emotions, lack of emotions, personality, and lack of personality in a very effective and engaging manner. The movie is not boring because the characters are dull, its boring because there's no good way to sympathize with them, and there is no stark emotion shown. Under better direction, the film could have been good, but not great. The story is fundamentally flawed. It lacks any special characteristics and struggles to find uniqueness. There have been dozens of movies similar to this from various cultures that do a far better job. It seems like the writers and director lack a clear purpose for making this film, and do not have a concrete lesson or theme to carry out through the progression of the film. Overall, the film is subpar at best and not really deserving of the time it takes to watch.
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