Love's Brother (2004)

Despairing of ever finding love, the insecure Angelo uses a photo of his handsome brother Gino to convince a beautiful Italian girl across the sea to marry him. Gino is delighted for Angelo... See full summary »

Director:

Jan Sardi

Writer:

Jan Sardi

Stars:

Giovanni Ribisi, Adam Garcia, Joe Petruzzi

6 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Giovanni Ribisi	...	Angelo Donnini
Adam Garcia	...	Gino Donnini
Joe Petruzzi	...	Zio Luigi
Rodney Afif	...	Guido
Bruno Lucia	...	Paolo
Mario Di Ienno	...	Café Latino #1
Marco Sellitto	...	Café Latino #2
Dina Panozzo	...	Zia Norma
John Bluthal	...	Pepe
Silvia De Santis	...	'Connie' Concetta Garibaldi
Barry Otto	...	Father Alfredo
Reg Mombassa	...	Gypsy Artist
Osvaldo Maione	...	Franco
Eleanor Bron	...	Signora Carmellina
Anna Burgess	...	Dancing Blonde

Storyline

Despairing of ever finding love, the insecure Angelo uses a photo of his handsome brother Gino to convince a beautiful Italian girl across the sea to marry him. Gino is delighted for Angelo, until he finds out what happened. To complicate matters further, when Angelo introduces his brother to Rosetta it's love at first sight

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Plot Keywords:

australia | 1950s | wedding party | movie theater | italian australian | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Did You Know?

Connections

References Samson and Delilah (1949)

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Soundtracks

La Strada nel bosco
Composed by Cesare A. Bixio (as Cesare Andrea Bixio) and Ermenegildo Rusconi
Written by Nicola Salerno
Performed by Claudio Villa
Licensed from Warner Music Australia Pty Ltd.

User Reviews

At least they brought us good coffee

There's a first time for everything, including directing a movie, and accomplished Australian scriptwriter (`Shine') Jan Sardi has not disgraced himself here. The plotline is corny (wrong brother's photo sent in marriage broking operation) and the approach stickily sentimental but things are saved by some good casting, quality acting and fine cinematography.

As Angelo, the shyer brother who is looking for a bride from Italy, Giovanni Ribisi (last seen as the doltish husband in `Lost in Translation') combines the intensity of B A Santamaria with a remarkable amount of diffidence. Adam Garcia, hitherto mainly a song and dance man, plays the less screwed up younger brother Gino with abundant artless charm, and they combine very well to give us a picture of two very different but very devoted people. Rosetta the mail order bride, (Amelia Warner) is very beautiful and doesn't say a great deal which adds to her charm of course. There are also some strong performances from supporting players. Silvia de Santis, hair dyed blonde, is very effective as Gino's girlfriend Connie, and John Bluthal does an Italian version of his loveable old man persona. Eleanor Bron has a brief role as the marriage broker – no more improbable than an Italian siren from Liverpool (where Amelia Warner hails from). It was also worth the price of admission to see Barry Otto as a Catholic Priest blessing a newly installed espresso machine.

Andrew Lesnie, responsible for the cinematography in the Lord of the Rings series, gives us one or two unusual camera angles, but by and large keeps things very pretty. He apparently looked at `Il Postino' to get some pointers on how to shoot an `Italian' movie. (That film was actually directed by an Englishman, Michael Radford.) Daylesford, Victoria, and its surrounds are shown to their advantage, certainly more so than the Italian village used for Rosetta's home town. The Italians shown here who migrated to Australia are a jolly lot; most of them seem to think Australia is heaven compared to Italy. The film is set circa 1958 but even 40 years later it looks like they made the right decision. They certainly did wonders for Australian coffee drinking.

Details

Official Sites:

Arclight films Aust / NZ distributor

Country:

Australia UK

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

1 April 2004 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Eine italienische Hochzeit

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$676,242

Company Credits

Production Co:

Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC), Film Victoria, Great Scott Productions Pty. Ltd.

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1