A Summer in Genoa
(2008)
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A Summer in Genoa
(2008)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Colin Firth | ... | ||
| Perla Haney-Jardine | ... | ||
| Willa Holland | ... | ||
| Catherine Keener | ... | ||
| Hope Davis | ... |
Marianne
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Margherita Romeo | ... |
Rosa
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Alessandro Giuggioli | ... |
Lorenzo
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Dante Ciari | ... |
Fabio
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Gherardo Crucitti | ... |
Mauro
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Monica Bennati | ... |
Monica
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Angelica Moretti | ... |
Angelica
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Carlo Moretti | ... |
Carlo
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| Sara Stewart | ... |
Susanna
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James Laurenson | ... |
Marianne's Father
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| Gary Wilmes | ... |
Danny
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How do children respond to tragedy? On an icy road near Chicago, Marianne dies in a crash, leaving Joe and their daughters, Kelly, about 16, and Mary, about 9. That summer, a friend from Joe's graduate student days, 20 years before, arranges a teaching job for him in Genoa. When they arrive in June, Joe starts teaching and the girls have the summer before school starts: Kelly quickly falls in with youths her age; their club and beach life leads to sexual awakening. Mary, burdened by guilt for her mother's death, is solitary. The girls take piano lessons, Mary draws, and she also sees and talks to her mother. Joe asks them, "Are you okay?", but is that enough? Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
A constant state of anxiety makes this a difficult film to watch; it communicates the anxieties of a parent for the well-being of their children very powerfully. Will they get lost? Will they get run over? Will they drown? Achingly terrible fears arise out of the most mundane circumstances. The acting is fabulous and the city, itself, is beautifully filmed, so that it becomes integral to the feelings that are created. The family relationships are truthfully portrayed and the effects of grief, expereinced in different ways by each of them, is beautifully explored without a hint of sentimentality. This is a true gem of a movie.