LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

sim_tasha Lately if you choose to watch European movie you'll not make mistake. This movie is Italian comic life drama. Three married couple and one bachelor having dinner. They are long time friends. One of the subject was that they don't have secrets. That's the time when complication start. Very simple. Great acting, realistic. I enjoyed this movie.

Andres-Camara What do I mean? Well, the film, although it takes a long time to start, then it starts to get interesting, obviously you know where it's going to go, otherwise there would not be a movie. It takes but it arrives, the problem is that the end, I do not know what it tells me, I tell it in the spoiler zone.In general, the actors are very good. They are a group of friends and I'm sure some of them did not know each other a few days before.It looks like a theatrical play, with so many characters there could be a great staging, moving the characters, not having them sitting so long. It would have given much more life to the film and could have made some great plans.Photography is beautiful, being inside, it handles everything and it helps to tell the story.The direction, get some good performances, but lacks pace at the beginning. But it fails to give a good staging and the plans are simple.It's a good movie, since you believe it and it hooks you, but it could be better.Spoiler: I do not know if what he wants to tell is the forgiveness of one another or if the moon changes us or that it has been a dream. I do not know why that change of mood in all the characters.

lar_lef Perfect strangers is a successful film, of necessity contrived because it is built on a successful gimmick- don't want to reveal it here. Takes place largely in dining room (was it a play before a movie?). Good movie symbolized by eclipse of moon occasionally watched by the diners, and ending hinted at by it. Not everything credible, but we are not watching War and Peace, or maybe so, in a sense. Plenty of pasta in evidence, so you and your partner may want to go out for a pizza afterwards, if still speaking to one another - hopefully life won't imitate art.Basta (enough).

James De Bello Seven long time friends are having a meet up at Rocco (Marco Giallini) and Eva's (Kasia Smutniak) house. As the dinner starts to evolve the theme of cellphones emerges bringing in very different points of views on the matter. The friendly bickering evolves to the point that the seven friends decide to play a game. Everyone is to put their cellphone on the table and any and every message, call or notification that arrives during the dinner is to be shared with everybody. What will emerge is in fact that all of these lifelong friends might actually be, fittingly, perfect strangers to one another.Paolo Genovese, an Italian director who in the past had made decent, yet never really remarkable efforts in Italian cinema has now come out with what is the best film of 2016 so far, the film you have to watch this year, a nail biting thriller, that takes your breath away with its first reveal and never lets you catch it back, not until long after the film has ended. If there is one feature you will have to look out for in 2016 this is the one to go for.What is most surprising about what Genovese and all of his co-writers have achieved is how simple the whole thing is. It is a basic premise. It is shot unstylishly. The plot weave has two, three at best turn points. The packaging of the film is so simple it almost puts into discussion the visual nature of film itself. Yet, what Genovese does as a director and what the screenplay achieves with its tight and relentless pacing is filling all of the simple surface of the film with a dark and riveting twist that manages to hold the viewer's interest without ever calling attention on itself.All of the scenes are shot with basic coverage. There is no shot in the film that calls attention to itself. Where this is compensated is with incredible blocking, masterful editing and overall impeccable timing. Just as Lumet in 1957 manged to make twelve men in a room visually interesting, Genovese, even if to a slightly lesser extent, manages to take this setting and charge every action and dialogue line with a climactic effort.When confronted with such a screenplay a director has to realize he has to step back and make the lines breathe, make the actors relevant, give the dialogue a flow and a meaning, trying not to make it become irrelevant. That is what Genovese does and to a brilliant effect, just like last year Danny Boyle made Sorkin's words enlighten the screen with energy, the director here gives the dialogue the spotlight and supports it with one little action at a time, all of which prove to be genius moves.It could be so easy to give all the credit to these brilliant actors, who admittedly rise to this occasion and give a collection of amazing performances, yet what Genovese those is so understated, so brilliantly unnoticeable it is the mark of a superbly directed movie. He walks perfectly the line between being a showman and being laid back, he ends up forging that perfect balance which makes every edit matter and what comes out on the other side is a white-knuckle thriller.Still, this screenplay has to be taken into account as the primary reason of success for the feature. Its character outlining is remarkable, everyone of these people feels fully rounded, you can sense all of their history weighing in on their shoulders. Every line further develops the relation between these people and takes a step forwards in defining them, you simply cling to every word trying to get to know them, their reality feels so interesting you want to be a part of it. It has almost a voyeuristic nature that is not too unlike Hitchock's "Rear Window". Naturally all of these actors have their A-game on which is the final ingredient into the craft of this overwhelming film.Were you wondering what film is missing from your catalog this year? Well here's this Italian one-room thriller that will take you by surprise and leave you with an ending that is brave and original, which seals the deal on the film and charges it with the most thematic effort it could have ever had.