Good movies from a culture, New Zealand, French and Australian being my favourites, and I watch a lot of movies, capture the flavour of a culture and time that encapsulates how it feels and looks.This is a timeless wonder and I am biased because it replicates my life although I am in New Zealand. So brilliant poignant moments, music from the time, average ordinary people scenery that captures the atmosphere and flavour of the time and age.Wonderful an hour or two of thorough enjoyment and a few tissue moments.Lots of people in it who went on to greater things too. What's not to love:-)

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.

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.

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)