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Looking for Alibrandi

Movie

Director:

Kate Woods
Category:

Movie / Comedy / Drama / Romance
Writer:

Melina Marchetta,Melina Marchetta
Cast:

Greta Scacchi,Anthony LaPaglia,Elena Cotta
Time:

1h 43min
Year:

2000

A teenage Australian girl deals with the traumas of everyday life. These include her difficult relationship with her single mother, the unexpected return of her long-lost father, the disapproving nuns at her strict Catholic school, the acceptance of her schoolmates,and romantic dilemmas over two very different boys.

Casts

Cast overview, first billed only:
	Greta Scacchi	-	Christina Alibrandi
	Anthony LaPaglia	-	Michael Andretti
	Elena Cotta	-	Katia Alibrandi
	Kerry Walker	-	Sister Louise (Nun)
	Pia Miranda	-	Josie Alibrandi
	Kick Gurry	-	Jacob Coote
	Matthew Newton	-	John Barton
	Leanne Carlow	-	Sera Conti
	Diane Viduka	-	Anna Selicic
	Leeanna Walsman	-	Carly Bishop
	Michael Gallina	-	Robert
	Rosa DiMarte	-	Patrizia
	Domenico DiMarte	-	Riccardo
	Tyrone Lara	-	Anton Valavic
	Geoff Morrell	-	Mr. Barton

Looking for Alibrandi (2000)

The novel "Looking for Alibrandi" is the most stolen book from Australian high school libraries.

Senator Barton and his son John were named in reference to Australia's first prime minister, Edmund Barton.

Anthony LaPaglia's character, Michael Andretti, lives in Adelaide, where LaPaglia himself was born.

There are thirteen tracks on the soundtrack album. Of these, three do not appear in the film - Killing Heidi's "Weir", Happyland's "Don't You Even Know Who I Am" and Lo-Tel 's "Teenager of the Year ". The trailer mentions two of these bands as being part of the soundtrack - Killing Heidi and Lo-tel - though none of their music is heard in the film. The Killing Heidi song is heard in the background of the trailer itself. The version of the song "Teenager of the Year " heard on the film is performed by Brenda Starr. Happyland are also heard performing "Tintarella Di Luna" during the film.

The firm Michael Andretti works for is called Clayton Utz. Clayton Utz is a real law firm, one of the biggest national firms in Australia. One of the scenes was filmed in their Sydney offices.

Zainn

"Looking For Alibrandi" is a great film. It shows what impact culture and family background can have on an Australian girl learning about the world. The movie also points out how important family values are to children growing up in todays society. One characters teenage suicide was an awful example of how the interests of young minds should be respected and the fact that the youth of today should be able to decide on their own futures with the full attention and best wishes of parents. Alot happens in the mind of a teenager, especially in their final year of high-school. Their thoughts and emotions should always be listened to and cared for.

Kezan

Being only 16 i don't think that I am able to comment on the film's technical qualities or on it's relationship with the novel; I've never read it. What I can say is that Looking for Alibrandi is a wonderful movie. Australian's have finally made a truly excellent teen movie and we have beat the American's at their own game. This was a true breath of fresh air from the typical American high school movie filled with jocks, nerds and cheerleaders. For once the heroine does not win the boy by changing her hairstyle or clothes. Pia Miranda is increadible as Josie Alibrandi and plays her role almost flawlessly, she steals the entire show. Josie has the right mix of strength and vulnerability and shows herself to be a fantastic role model for young girls. Miranda is supported by an equally talented cast who all perform excellently. Kick Gurry (Jacob) and Matthew Newton (John) are outstanding in their roles, as are the entire Alibrandi/Andretti family. It also has to be said that the movie's handling of the issue of teen suicide was mature and eye-opening, thank-you for not lecturing us. Looking for Alibrandi is a story about life, love and finding yourself and it is a credit to all those involved in it.

Galanjov

Okay, so firstly this is a fine Australia film. What that means is that it is quirky, memorable, identifiable and just a great way to spend an hour or so. Don't expect big names, well outside of Australia, and don't expect guns, car chases, FX, or your typical Hollywood blaise. This film goes to prove that the simple story of a girl looking for who she is in the world, can still bring a tear to ones eye.

Secondly, for the ladies, if you are looking for a good "chick-flick" you can hardly go wrong. And for the lads, Pia epitamises the "girl next door" look.

Lastly, if you haven't experienced a good Aussie movie and don't fancy a youthful Mel Gibson, why not give this movie a go. I highly recommend it.

Talrajas

"Looking for Alibrandi" could be labeled as a teen-comedy, but the truth is that genre is rather connected with dumb cheerleaders and quarterbacks full of testosterone, so it would be quite unfair to put "LFA" into that bag, for this is a more serious movie, the characters are not complete idiots and the story deals with matters such as the pressure that parents put on their children when it's time for them to choose a career, or the immigration issue (the main characters are Italian that live in Australia).

In short: it's a kind movie that's been well filmed and with much more quality than the most of the sickly sweet Hollywood products such as "Never been kissed" and stuff.

*My rate: 6/10

Zicelik

I saw "Looking for Alibrandi" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Down Under Film Fest.

We so rarely get to see glimpses of Australia's ethnic immigrant communities. With shades of "Household Saints" and "Moonstruck" here's a coming-of-age movie set in Sydney's Little Italy.

The pluses and minuses of being a high school senior in a close-knit family and community are warmly and hilariously portrayed visually. (How do they keep their young 'uns at school and work when the beach laps practically onto the city streets?)

Co-star Anthony LaPaglia (as a very non-stereotypical Italian father), who did a "Q & A" after the movie, felt the Italian community portrayal accurately reflected his experiences growing up in Adelaide.

Faithfully based on a popular "Young Adult" novel (with a few plot changes), its lack of clichés about family and dating was refreshing -- the just out of reach Golden Boy is tormented by his own demons; the seductive Bad Boy is no lout, but captain of the opposing school's debate team with his own vulnerability issues.

The "curse" on the women in the family is quite touching and realistic, without simple Hollywood solutions.

While the Ozzies in the audience caught more of the jokes faster as the slang and native references kept the Americans dependent on context, do watch out to see this delightful movie where ever you can.

(originally written 10/7/2001)

Flathan

I don't usually like "love stories" but having read the book and having enjoyed the book, I went along to this movie. Being an Aussie movie was also a highlight for me because I am used to trashy American sop stories. I knew this movie was good because even the meanest movie reveiwers enjoyed it. I came out of it and felt like jumping with joy because FINALLY some movie makers had made a realistic "love tale"!

The fact that the movie also deals with racism, and all those other "isms" (ageism, sexism and so on) raised it up a notch for me. It was THE best Aussie movie I saw that year and probably even just the best movie.

I don't know if everyone would enjoy it, but I think most people would get something out of it.

Kabandis

This was an amazing movie, correctly portraying what goes through the mind of a teenage girl. It also deals with issues that many teens have to deal with such as death and dealing with your parents and relationships with boys etc. This movie was a great light-hearted film that should win an award just for the fact that the thoughts that went through Josie's head were just what go through say my 16 year old head! if you haven't seen this movie you MUST!

fetish

A film treatment of a well-loved ( despite being prescribed school reading) children's story is always a delicate matter but here the makers have captured most of the spirit of the original, possibly helped by the fact that Melina Marchetta, the original author, also wrote the screenplay. Josie is the daughter of a single mother of Sicilian background who attends an exclusive Catholic girls' school on a scholarship. Her father, who she has never known, turns up out of the blue as a successful lawyer and she and her mother both have to cope with this not entirely welcome event. Josie, being 17, is also interested in boys, two in particular. One is a nice but insecure kid from the establishment, the other, self confident and sexy, from a single parent home on the other side of the tracks. Also in the story is Josie's Nona (Grandma), long widowed after a loveless marriage, who lives nearby and keeps a close check on Josie's doings. Josie's occasional voice-overs and her lapses into fantasy give the film a slightly Adrian Mole-ish atmosphere, but Josie's family and friends are not grotesque, just human.

Women who haven't had a father while growing up are supposed to find it more difficult to handle adult males and Josie has to learn to deal with a father and boyfriends at the same time. She also has to handle to snobbery at school, not to mention the burden of the dreaded HSC exam in her final year. She is aiming high (law at a prestigious university) so that she can escape from little Italy and the annual tomato sauce bottling. She learns, of course, that you cannot escape from what made you, you can only make it work for you. As in real life, nothing quite works out according to plan, but at the end she's a year older and wiser.

It's Pia Miranda's film. Her Josie is assertive, vulnerable and warm. A raft of good supporting actors back her up. Greta Scacchi, often cast as a sex bomb, is a blowsy but loving Mum. Anthony La Paglia is a bit of a stock character as the new-found father but has a couple of good scenes. Elena Cotta as Nono and Matthew Newton and Kick Gurry as the silvertail and rough trade boyfriends also do good work. Kerry Walker, so often cast as a female monster, puts in a restrained performance as a firm but sympathetic schoolteacher. I also liked Josie's two girlfriends Anna and Sara, the 'wog chicks' in the old Merc, and their no-holds barred approach to enjoying life despite the HSC and demanding parents. Sydney city vistas are also used to good effect the bridges, the harbour, Bondi Beach, and there was even a school debate in the foyer of the Opera Theatre. It was nice to get away from the grunge Sydney seen in 'Two Hands' etc.

I noticed that though I could hardly be described as being in the target audience for this film I was smiling most of the way through and emerged from the cinema with a reasonably cheerful feeling. It's not a particularly dramatic story but it's easy to warm to the characters. A film adaption that works, it seems.

INvait

I was looking forward to viewing this promising new Australian movie, yet I was disappointed at its lack of depth of emotion, and film style.

The story, once a novel, is well written and warming, and the father-daughter relationship is quite touching, yet I felt that some of the strongest emotions were only lightly dismissed.

The film is visually quite colourful, and has a slight Australian teen soap feel to it.

I recommend that you see this film, if only once, for the story at least.

Anarius

To get things straight, there was only one reason I read both the book and saw the movie. It was to get a mark in my English class.

We were given the book and, after a dozen or so slow hours, the book was finished. And I thought I was free. And THEN my teacher pulls the TV into the classroom. HOwever long it was later, the TV was switched off, and I immediately started ranting about how bad it was. I wasn't the only one.

First off, the acting wasn't bad, it was reasonable. The music was good too (except for one instance which I will rant about later) and the cinematography was decent too.

BUT these things don't really matter if you don't have characters you care about or a decent plot!!!

The book at least attempts to make you care about the characters, it shows little scenes between some of them to show that they are actually human. The movie, however, just dumps you right in the middle of it and expects you to love all the characters instantly, which is especially hard for the main character who I think is a horrible person. What about the character John Barton? He spends the entire time he's in the film smiling, joking and running around, flirting with Josie, he's depressed for thirty seconds, there's a 'tense' moment and then he kills himself. And are we supposed to care? Yes. Do we? NO!!! Because the movie didn't build up his character, didn't make him realistic OR likable. But this actually brings me to the only compliment I can really give this movie. The funeral scene was well done. Well shot, it was reasonably moving. And the song choice was brilliant. U2's 'With Or Without You' is an amazing song and was perfect for that scene. Sadly, they had it sung by tone deaf cats with laryngitis. The singer (whoever it was, I don't care about him enough to look up his name) was HORRENDOUS!!!! Horrible!!!! I just couldn't believe they would let someone ruin one of the best songs ever like that! I hope they didn't pay him, because I would definitely be asking HIM to give ME money. And yes, I know I've spent a paragraph complaining about a song in the movie, but I had to get it out there.

Another thing that bothered me was the ending. The book had a rather realistic ending, not everything was sunshine and smiles. The movie, however, made it ENTIRELY sunshine and smiles, everyone was happy, everything was perfect. It kinda ruined the entire thing, although it was ruined anyway just by making it a movie.

All in all, this movie was worth the one star I gave it purely because of the funeral scene. I couldn't stand any more of it. The only thing that could get me through it was the fact that I want to do well in English and this counted towards the grade.

Gavikelv

I *really* thought that the movie version of Looking for Alibrandi was good. Although I agree with the opinion that the book was a lot better and that some of the best scenes weren't included in the movie and that the scenes were rather out of order, I found that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I saw it first when it came out in the cinemas and again on Showtime recently and I couldn't help but appreciate the way the characters were portrayed in the film--especially Nonna.

The music used in the film gave the film a more textured flavour, especially during the scene with the...uh (how can I say it without spoiling people)...the uh, procession. The song ("With or Without You" by U2) just expressed everything that wasn't said.

The movie was great, and the tension between Josie and Nonna was done with a humorous sort of...uncomfortability. You just don't get that from words printed on paper.

Read the book, watch the movie. If you like slightly dramatic, slightly romantic, slightly comedic movies, then this is the movie for you. Besides, the storyline is great.

hardy

It was refreshing to see a movie about a teenaged girl where I didn't know exactly what was going to happen at the end. It kept surprising me which is usually hard to do with this kind of film. The characters were also realistic which is also something you don't see to often these days.

Jazu

"Looking for Alibrandi" was a great success in Australia. I'm not sure why. Was its success manufactured by the Australian press? Was it that Australian teenagers felt the film spoke to them, personally? It doesn't really matter: either alternative is depressing.

Maybe I just wasn't prepared to be charitable. The opening volley of first-person narration put me in a sour mood from which I never really emerged - partly because there was a second volley after the first, and a third, and a fourth - in short, WHENEVER director Kate Woods could think of nothing better to do, which was often, Pia Miranda's voice over cut across the soundtrack like a close-miked violin. It's a clumsy device. Instead of bringing us closer to Josie it actually distances us. When will directors and screenwriters get the idea? First-person narration cannot go far wrong as a literary device, and it can raise a book to heights the author could not otherwise have reached - "Great Expectations" is a good example of the magic spell a first-person narrator can cast. But it's usually a DISASTROUS device in a film. It's disastrous here. -And, not content with over-using the first-person voice over, Woods also over-uses the SECOND clumsiest cliché of film: the pop song interlude. Gargh.

There are fleeting moments - a moment of silent communication between Josie and her father in the headmaster's office, a wounding remark made by Josie's boyfriend - in which the film springs to life, promising to cast off its first-person cocoon and take flight. At such moments I WANTED the film to become good. I really did. My hopes were always dashed. (Usually within seconds, I might add.)

The trouble with "Looking for Alibrandi" is that one can smell the very pages of the book on which it was based. I haven't read the book, but I know the type. It's one of those ghastly "young adult" novels. I think I could have felt the prose even without hearing it: glib, scientifically crafted to meet the carefully researched needs of a particular age group, careless of the concerns of those who lie outside that age group by so much as a month. Books of this kind have not so much a story as a synthetic tom-tom beat of Relevant Issues. Their absence of aesthetic merit is so complete it must be deliberate. And they are oh, so insular. In the entire history of mankind, has there ever been, or will there ever be, a "young adult" novel that's also a good book? Hah. -Oh, there may be good books that are by and large READ by teenagers, like "The Lord of the Rings". That book attracted a teenage audience by accident. "Looking for Alibrandi" attracted a teenage audience by design. The difference is crucial.

As I say, I haven't read the book. I could be wrong about it, and I apologise to Melina Marchetta if I am. I don't apologise to the film, though: it's exactly the kind of thing you'd expect to be based on the kind of book I think it's based on.

Bremar

well..i read the book so many times....and i loved it...and when i saw the movie...i was so disappointed..and sad..i get its a low budget movie.but....there are so many different parts...the movie is so empty and short..they have cut so many parts....i mean..the book wasn't 300 pages..its was a normal book..why didn't they include all the things in the movie>?? and the characters are so not a like as they are described in the book..! anyways it was worth watching it...but not more than once.

I would love if someone would remake this movie..with other actors..and to do it exactly like in the book...i think people would enjoy it more!

Beanisend

Looking for Alibrandi is an outstanding novel written by Melina Marchetta and published by Penguin Books in 1992. It is a story full of love and passion, hatred of foe, and tragic sadness. This novel is so excellent with its sensational ideas that in 2000 the novel was made into a hit movie starring Pia Miranda as Josephine Alibrandi.

Seventeen-year-old Josephine Alibrandi is in her last year at St. Martha's, a wealthy Catholic secondary school for girls whose fathers treat them like princesses. Josephine feels that she doesn't fit in anywhere for the following reasons. She is an Italian whose grandmother moved out to Sydney when she got married. She is on a scholarship at St Martha's and is surrounded by rich snobbish girls who already have modeling careers. Josie has been called a bastard all her life due to the fact that she has never met her father. But for Josie this year, everything changes for the better, and for worse. This is the year that she will meet her father (Michael Andretti) for the first time in her life, but not in the way she had imagined. The year she finds out about her Nonna Katia's affair with an Australian man called Marcus Sandford. He is Josie's mum's real dad, because Nonna Katia's husband Francesco couldn't have children of his own. It also the year that Josie tries to make the man of her dreams fall in love with her. He goes to St Anthony's and is the son of a Member of Parliament, his name is John Barton, and in Josie's opinion he is the greatest debater who ever lived, popular and good looking. Josie and John are very good friends and hang out a lot. Josie thinks that John is perfect and wants to be part of his world, but when John suicides she realizes that not even he belonged in his world.

It takes Josie a long time to get over John, but soon starts going out with a boy called Jacob Coote. Jacob is school captain of Cook High, and Josie and Jacob are always on and off together throughout the novel. Not only does Josie have all of this happening but she also has her HS (the Higher School Certificate) to worry about, because she wants to study law at University. However, once HS is over, Josephine realizes that everything is going to be fine when she looks back on the year and knows who she is. Josephine is Nonna Katia's Granddaughter, and Michael and Christina's daughter. She is not an Italian and not an Australian, but an individual. It's not a bad effort, even if the first half of Looking for Alibrandi demonstrates a good crackling pace and the second, a rather flattened pace. But that is generalizing - it's quite a bumping ride, as we follow the domestic life of Italian born Josephine, who is undertaking her final level of high school. The guy she wants is just out of her reach, then lately, way out of her reach, and the guy who wants her is keen for the feelings to be reciprocated. The mixture of two possible love interests gives Looking for Alibrandi a slight edge on other squishy little heartthrob dramas, and it gets a nod of appreciation from me for not flat lining its characters into their social stereotypes. Some of the last few monologues lost my interest completely, but that's a minor quibble in the scheme of things. A lot of the film is quite enjoyable. It just doesn't quite handle the complexities of its self-narration in a method that can sustain itself as an engrossing picture. Instead, it's a bumpy ride, which in a way reflects the life of its teenage protagonist.

GAZANIK

This film shows the ups and downs of a girl's life as she is emerging into the world during her final year of school. Not only does she have to think about the imminent HSC exams, she also has a father come into her life, a friend commit suicide and a boyfriend from the wrong side of the tracks. The conversion of Novel to Screenplay, by the same author, fits with each other and does resonate with the Audiences and People who have gone through tough times and stressful situations. The backdrops of Sydney City, Eastern Suburbs and 'Little Italy' give the feeling of displacement from where Josie actually is from, and the difference in people from each area. The Eastern Suburbs is where her school is and the area is quite 'snobby' while in 'little Italy' everyone knows your business because everyone knows each other. Looking for Alibrandi is aimed as a general audience while focusing on late teens, and viewers in their early twenties. It has become a well known Australian film and I recommend that all should watch.

Mavegar

"Looking for Alibrandi" was one of those films that received a huge push on release due to the popularity of the book and its position as a major Australian release in 2000. Because of these petty reasons I avoided it on release but finally got around to seeing it recently. This film is an enjoyable experience that won't really test anyone's intelligence but makes following Josie Alibrandi through her last year of school an enjoyable one.

For those viewers who need a comparative base to decide if they will like a film, "Looking..." shares similarities with "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" - both films have female protagonists facing the prospect of growing up in strong ethnic backgrounds and trying to escape it to some extent. Overall I prefer "Looking..." to "MBFGW" since it has more depth and isn't a flat-out sitcom premise, but I believe if you enjoyed one you will at least be entertained by the other.

My two main gripes with "Looking..." are the ending (*spoiler* - it's the old "I want to get away from my family... oh wait, I love them now" ending that is pretty cliched *end spoiler*) and that Josie Alibrandi can be pretty grating at times - she isn't always the sympathetic heroine and can be very off-putting in her behaviour. Still, she's meant to be a teenage girl and I'm fairly sure that 'real' teenage girls can be pretty surly at times too!

Overall, "Looking for Alibrandi" is a coming of age film that features strong performances for the most part. An audience could do much worse than this for a night's entertainment.

Nargas

This film is so good, though I haven't read the book I still think the film is great. It's about a girl called Josie(Pia Miranda)who goes to a posh school on a scholarship, where she has to get good scores to stay there.

Also she is in Yr 12 so she has to do good on her HSC, also while having the pressure of her dad in town and her love interest John Barton(Matthew Newton)committing suicide, now when that seen came on when they played WITH OR WITHOUT YOU when they carried his casket out it was so sad. My emotions were just pouring out.

There aren't much good Australian films out there but this one is really good and I think every 15-20 year old teenager should see it.

After seeing Looking for Alibrandi I decided to give this film an 8 out of 10.

Kagalkree

the book the film was based on, by Melina Marchetta, is the 'most stolen book' in Australian school libraries, and not without reason. the book can be related to by all teenagers, and not only those living in Australia but internationally as well. the movie is one of the better book-to-screen adaptions in a long while. it manages to convey the emotions and ideas that the book is about, and does this in a way that can be empathised with. brilliant acting all round, especially from the very well cast Anthony Lapaglia. a great film to watch on many levels.

Ohatollia

In a country that consists almost entirely of generation after generation of immigrants, the concept of alienation and cultural/ethnic identity is one often discussed by 'Australians', as is the notion of the loose class structure that coexists alongside this. Essentially we all want to remember where we have come from (or are forced to acknowledge this by the generation preceding us) and at the same time have an idea of where we are going to. Australian literature and film has covered the topic often - from the 60's adaptation of John O'Grady's novel, "They're a weird mob" to the more recent Anna Kokkinos adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas' novel "Loaded" (entitled "Head On").

Josie Alibrandi (Miranda) comes third in line of the 'cursed' Alibrandi women, preceded by her mother Christina (Scacchi) and Nona Katia (Cotta). It is her final year at school, and as if this isn't difficult enough to get through, she has to contend with the appearance of her long lost father, Michael Andretti (La Paglia), a 'suitor' from the local high school, Jacob (Gurry), ongoing racial and class based abuse from schoolmate Carly Bishop (Carlow), and a tragedy involving one of her close friends (no spoilers!).

Melina Marchetta's book was published back in 1992 and has received wide critical acclaim. To her credit, she has adapted this quite well for film, although at times there is a sense of trying to cram just a little too much into an hour and half of film. While all the issues and sub plots are important to the story as a whole, the film often skims over some of these without fully fleshing them out, a good example being the relationship between Josie and Jacob which shifts in and out of prominence and is a little under baked.

Kate Woods first chance at directing a feature has been quite successful despite this, and she manages to get some nice work from her actors. Miranda in the lead role is fresh and believable as troubled teen about to have a truckload of adulthood dumped on her. Scaachi and La Paglia are both credible in their respective roles (funny but genuine reconciliation scene between father and daughter), although possibly slightly miscast in terms of supposedly being around the age of 34 - both seem much older. Cotta is superb as Nona Katia - she embodies the sicilian grandmother with near perfection. Gurry, Walsman and Newton do well in terms of capturing the class differences, although this does become a little pushed at times (eg the speech at the Opera House scene) and Newton, although admittedly in a difficult role, could have played his character down a little.

Loads of nice touches - the dream sequences (especially the "Nona Patrol" scene), the 'home movie feel' in the 'la famiglia' gatherings and a definite sense of believing in the relationships that are developed between the characters. On top of this we have some good cinematography from Toby Oliver who manages to make Sydney seem a truly international city and shows it off well to the world.

The thing that makes this movie above average in the end is that I think most will be able to relate to it in some way, which to me means that the cast, writer and director have mostly successfully done their jobs. A good film especially for anyone still in the throes of a large ethnic family or who has completed, or is soon to go through, that oh so crucial final year of secondary school. Bottom line philosophy - life wasn't meant to be easy, but we all get through somehow.

Dagdalas

Im almost 24 and can still relate to the movie even though I can hardly remember high school. Pia Miranda, virtually a new-comer is excellent as the role of Josie (however in the book she's described as never being able to fit into a bikini and having wild, curly and unruly hair). So what if it's not the same as the book though? How many movies are? There WAS one scene that they should've left in though.. the bit after finishing her take-away job late at night.. (read the book and find out what happened).. but overall, a thoroughly enjoyable film. It's funny but not such a complete comedy that you spend the whole time groaning. It shows great places of Sydney (which everyone living here can recognise) and was very moving, especially one part in the middle. Matthew Newton was excellent as John Barton. I want to see it again! I rate it 9/10. One more thing, it reminded me of girly "chick flicks" like Steel magnolias, fried green tomatoes, The joy luck club, How to make an american quilt.. etc etc.. it's essent

ᵀᴴᴱ ᴼᴿᴵᴳᴵᴻᴬᴸ

The story of this film is very amazing in the way, upon seeing the story, one can relate to its meaning in many ways. I have, and in doing so, it has changed my life in ways on how I see myself, others and loved ones....I read the book and I think that the screenplay works quite successfully in displaying the meanings and emotions of Josephine, her mother, her grandmother, her "new" father and her boyfriend and her friends..

Theres something in "Looking For Alibrandi" for all of us..Believe me...see it for yourself and discover!!

Westened

The film "Looking for Alibrandi" is a close adaptation of the novel by the same name. The novel has been used as part of the High School Syllabus in Australia (in NSW at least) for a few years and is well loved by all who read it. To non-Australians: this is EXACTLY what the last year of high school is like over here.

The film is superb. It captures the feelings contained in the book - of Josie's HSC year and the turmoil surrounding that life-changing time - perfectly. I am sure I am not alone in identifying completely with the character, the mood, and events of the movie as being exactly what that HSC year (Grade 12) is all about. The personal relationships, personal growth, excitement, stress, happiness and the climax of the HSC would be remembered during this movie by all who went through it...

The film varies from the novel in its chronological sequence and by leaving a few details out - for example the "Aussie" misfit Lee has been cut. However this is more than made up for by the accurate portrayal of Sydney school life - it was a joy to see those familiar schoolgrounds, hangouts and even faces amongst the cast. The HSC exams brought reminiscent chills and Muckup day was hysterical, those hot summer days during Stuvac and after....

What can I say? I loved it. I wouldn't be surprised if the Board of Education here added it to the English syllabus very soon.

sergant

The contemporary richness of Australian film production, manifested by Kate Wood's wonderful film, is definitely a phenomenon of the last years. It could be argued that films such as Looking for Alibrandi are too "small" to generate interest beyond Australia because they focus on parochial topics that do not transcend our boundaries. However, Alibrandi is composed of parts that are so universal that they would be identifiable across the ethnic or national spectrum.

The elements that move Alibrandi into the realm of movie-remembrance is the very normalcy of the story and this is where the brilliance of contemporary Australian cinema is felt most strongly. We are not assaulted by foreign film makers who, in order to make a movie, must transport us to a figurative land populated by magazine heroes.

Looking for Alibrandi succeeds on all levels of film production: the brilliant story, excellent scripting, wonderful acting throughout and with special acknowledgment to Kate Wood's exceptional direction. I particularly noticed the way in which she directed the editing of the film; because the her very tight timing for each scene, the film allowed for the unfolding of the story without the the viewer needing to digest material that really doesn't add to the film's presence.

Looking for Alibrandi is a marvelous example of contemporary Australian film making and I believe that it will please any audience any where in the world. Don'y miss it!

misery

English teachers will delight in getting their students to compare this film version of Alibrandi with the novel. There are notable differences, despite both novel and screenplay being written by Melina Marcetta.

Technically, this film version of 'Alibrandi' is passable in its cinematography (with some nice shots of Sydney) and editing (ten out of ten for the "book in the face" shot!). The plot is unfolded satisfactorily. The acting generally is convincing-to-good, with Kick Gurry stealing every scene he appears in. However, his appropriately 'bad-boy-with-the-heart-of-gold' portrayal at the start of the movie degenerates too rapidly into a blue collar Lothario intent on seducing an innocent Italian virgin. This is an irksome departure from the novel. More positively, Leana Walsman (as Carly) puts in a first-class performance as a 'snot-nose' high school princess. Without doubt, she will be the one everyone will remember from this film. Other actors put in workaday but unremarkable performances, with Greta Scacchi having the excuse of having had her character's importance in the story savagely cut down for the film. But, for me, the highlight of the film (and kudos to Kate Woods for this) is the handling of the denouement. It is beautifully set and sensitively acted by Elena Cotta.

But sadly, the film version suffers overall in its effectiveness due to two major flaws. I suspect too many 'advisors' got to Marcetta and made her polarise the characters Jacob Coote and John Barton. They come across as 'poor-boy hero' and 'rich-boy wimp' far too obviously. The light and shade of the complexity of their backgrounds,limitations and opportunities is lost. All we are left with is the old fairytale; "Princesses love to run off with Handsome Peasants". Secondly, no Italian girl (and certainly no Italian girl whose honour is besmirched by illegitimacy) would behave the way Kate Woods has her Josephine behaving. She is disrespectful, rude, arrogant and obnoxious. There is just far too much of the late 90s Anglo-Australian spoilt teenage brat here, and not enough sensitivity nor awareness of just how restricting traditional Italian communities are with their virginal daughters. In short, the poignancy, humour and pathos of being "ethnic" in modern Australia is lost in this film. Like I said, students will enjoy comparing film to novel.

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