Italian for Beginners

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Audience Member The cover of the video disc made me think that this was going to be a lush, sexy tale of romance. Instead, it was a poorly-filmed, poorly-written, poorly-acted soap opera about a bunch of people in a Danish town who meet as a result of a little-attended Italian language class. This premise might have still worked if it were done right, but it looks like a home movie, and it seems the people who praise it are the ones who think any film that doesn't come from Hollywood is a great classic. It's not a classic, not even in a "so-bad-it's-good" sense. The plot is about a recently-widowed pastor hired for the town church to fill in for the regular one who has been suspended, and other major characters include a hairdresser with a dying mother, a bakery employee who keeps dropping things and who has an obnoxious dying father, an obnoxious and self-absorbed young restaurant manager, an Italian waitress who wants a husband, and other similarly clichéd characters who are neither developed nor likable. The story jumps from one scene to another, featuring a few mild laughs but no actual good parts. After two-thirds of the way I just gave up, deciding there would be no payoff. You cannot always judge a DVD by its cover, or by the fact that it is called a "classic". Beware of that term; you might be disappointed. Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member This is the film about loneliness in the village in Denmark Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie proves 2 things. 1 One can make a great movie for under 5 million bucks. 2 Danish movies don't suck. The acting was exceptional. The characters were believable and all touched you in their own way. Something that's very hard to do. The story, although lacked continuity at times - worked. It ran the perfect emotional gambit. It will make you chuckle and get teary eyed. Its a great romantic first date movie for those that enjoy a good foreign language film. Brava. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member Nothing really holds the movie together with enough substance, just mostly plays as separated characters with different stories that don't ever really feel connected (even with the Italian class). The Dogma 95 style of jerky handheld cameras was the wrong approch for this movie, it's pretty distracting throughout, and doesn't work with the romantic comedy aspirations of the movie. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Frances H Although a bit slow and hum-drum at first, this sweet little film grew on me. The immediacy of the video-taped quality made it remind me of an episode of Britain's Coronation Street. An enjoyable view. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/16/13 Full Review Audience Member At the edge of their lonely life, they finally encounter their true pairs. This is the most pure love story that I've never seen before. Whenever I watch this film, I cannot help falling in love with this film and all characters. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Italian for Beginners

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