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Memorable, crazy movie

Great Film overall

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A SUMMER IN GENOA is one of those films that leaves its impression on the viewer after the film is over. As far as a movie goes, not much happens -to the eye - but a lot of introspection and searching for meaning where there doesn't seem to be much makes the film worth watching.Academician Joe (Colin Firth) and his daughters Kelly (Willa Holland) and Mary (Perla Haney- Jardine) have moved to Italy in an attempt to resolve the pain and resentment of the accidental death of Marianne (Hope Lange), their wife/mother. Once settled in Genoa, Joe takes on a teaching job and meets an old college friend Barbara (Catherine Keener), Kelly feels her hormones raging and dashes about the old city with boys, while May concentrates on piano lessons and is disturbed by visions of her departed mother. Each finds escape in special fashions but in the end the introspection that occurs during that special summer alters the way the three remaining family members interact.The actors do well with their parts, especially Colin Firth, and the film serves more as a lesson in grieving and how families can decide to be divided by loss of a loved one or find a closer bond. The end effect is a beautifully photographed, understated, quiet film that leaves room for food for thought afterward. Grady Harp

Unquestionably one of the very worst movies I've ever seen. I must be candid though - I'm pretty quick at tapping the stop button on movies I consider junk. But the storyline got me in - the fact there was none!! I stuck it out thinking that at some stage something interesting was sure to happen - it didn't. (I'm still annoyed with myself that I wasted such a significant portion of my life to this movie!) After yet another boring irrelevant scene it went to the credits. I thought I must of missed something - I rewound - missed something? I hadn't. Nothing wrong with the acting - just bloody awful story. Like watching a normal family - BORING!!!

Michael Winterbottom is the king of the low budget art house film, but here he goes too far. Genoa is clearly a cheap European city in which to film and it is used as the main backdrop as if the fourth actor along with the father (Colin Firth) and his two daughters. Narrow Medieval streets and alleys, ancient churches and some modest beaches have a level of interest, but too much is drab like the dark apartment where they stay. Of course, as with Winterbottom you get some fabulous depth of emotion between the cast, but the unexceptional settings starts to wear and your attention wanders, rather like the young daughters in the film....

In some ways A Summer in Genoa was fairly like Grace is Gone which starred John Cusack as a father who together with his two children have to figure out life after the death of his wife. Here, Colin Firth plays the role of dad, who decided to uproot his family of daughters Mary (Perla Haney-Jardine) and Kelly (Willa Holland) from Chicago to Genoa in order to start their lives anew, which gives rise to plenty of touristy moments as they settle down in a new environment and get to learn a little bit about the culture of the Italians before they assimilate right in, not that we get to learn a lot anyway.Directed by Michael Winterbottom, this film presented what would be a one month snapshot of the lives of three characters each affected quite differently with the passing of a loved one. Made even more poignant is that one of them was directly responsible for the death in the family, in an opening scene that you are probably going to cringe with cinematic premonition that something untoward would happen, since there were plenty of visual and aural clues on how it would all eventually pan out. But the snapshot presented was really slight in nature, having its characters fall into stereotypes, while the narrative shifts gear into the morose and flatlines almost throughout its entire run time.Colin Firth could play Joe with his eyes closed, being the dad whose new stint in a school brings him attention in the form of female students, as well as a friend from the past (Catherine Keener) who had helped him and his family in their initial settling down, providing that potential romantic interest that didn't develop much. The most Joe had to do is to appease youngest daughter Mary, the baby of the family, who suffers from constant nightmares about that fateful night with her mom.Willa Holland as the teenage daughter Kelly expectedly falls into the rebellious phase as she lusts after the attention showered unto her from many hot blooded Italian men, with the usual flings you'd come to expect from a title like that. The only depth to her character comes from the very testy relationship formed with her younger sister, where in front of their father she plays the angel, but in his absence becomes the bully not pulling her weight in the discharge of her responsibilities.Perla Haney-Jardine though probably was the star of the show, stealing the thunder from everyone with her performance that requires to showcase a range of emotions, and by and large her character here may have resembled the little kid in Millions who possessed a vivid imagination. Hope Davis enjoyed limited screen time in the film, but her scenes opposite Hope Davis were probably the best in the storyline that required to tread upon the supernatural, though more Casper than creepy, personifying how one grasps onto treasured memories with the reluctance to let go.Don't expect any major breakthroughs or moments with deeper meanings, though it had one harrowing scene that reminded me of how horrible traffic in Italy could be, and their scooters that weave in and out of small lanes, where a map is probably useless since the streets have no signages. It certainly brought back some of my own wonderful experience in the country, that the most this film had done, is to rekindle that interest to go travelling and tour more Italian towns.