Okay, I guess this question is more applicable for those of you reading who are still in school. As the end of the school year draws near (or, for some public schools and colleges, has already happened), I want to challenge you to this question: What's your biggest change this past (school) year?
How have you changed? How have you become a better person? How have you changed other people, for better or for worse?
Are you proud of the changes? Of who you are now?
(And yes technically what I'm doing here is called cheating because I basically just bombarded you with questions. But but but!! All of these tie back to the main question in the title—what's your biggest change this year?)
Title: Amore 14 Language: Italian Year: 2009 Director: Federico Moccia Starring: Veronica Olivier, Beatrice Flammini, Flavian Roberto My Rating: 4/5
Based on a novel of the same name, this refreshing Italian film follows fourteen-year-old Carolina as she enters the world of teenagers, falls in and out of love, and does all things teenagers do (which includes quite a bit of family problems, girl drama, etc).
This is one of those films that is just overflowing with youth and will make anyone feel like a teenager again. As Carolina falls for the cute boy Massi, which she met at a record store (seriously, how much more adorable can it get?!), I cannot help but fall with her. Massi is charming with a big smile, but he is in no means perfect. He is young, too, a little reckless, and irresponsible sometimes, like all boys his age are. The realistic depiction of people their age is what appealed to be the most.
And the way they fell in love, headfirst and fearless—it just totally floored me. The way their pure, reckless young love is portrayed in the film is very...sunny, for the lack of a better description. Watch the following short scene and you'll know what I'm talking about:
Moreover, to my surprise and delight, this film not only deals with relationship, but also touches on other issues on many levels: Carolina's older brother is moving out because their father doesn't approve of his career choices, Carolina's grandpa is sick, Carolina debates whether she should ignore her curfew... In a way it is a breathtakingly and painfully authentic depiction of adolescence. The ending, especially (for fear of spoiling it, I'll stop here).
What I wish I saw more in the movie is the foreshadowing of the ending, however. Although I quite like the ending, it seems to me a bit that the director was running out of time and just decided to end the story. This is the reason why, regretfully, I couldn't give this film a rating of above 4.
To conclude, I want to show you the lyrics to a very poetic, slightly melancholic song in the movie that I think is so true of young love (and did I mention I am deeply, completely and irrevocably in love with this song?):
