If you’ve ever been to Verona I’m sure you went to see Juliet’s (Giulietta’s) balcony. It’s fun; young couples wait their turn for the girl to call from the balcony to the guy who stands down below in the courtyard looking up to her. “Brad, Brad, where for art thou Brad?” Doesn’t sound as romantic to me but I’m sure it is for them. Women who are not so lucky in love leave letters for Juliet, asking advice and otherwise pouring out their heart to her about their various relationship dilemmas.
The 2010 “Letters To Juliet” is a movie about one of those letters, and if you need an Italy fix, it’s really not so bad. I’m usually pretty hard how on how Hollywood portrays Italians – I think it bothers me more than it bothers them. I finally did see “Eat, Pray, Love” and almost barfed. But “Letters to Juliet” actually did a better job of making Italians seem more like real people and less like the adorable cliches that American moviemakers seem to want us to believe they all are.
This movie is formulaic, predictable, and Amanda Seyfried, who plays Sophie, is pretty one dimensional. But it also stars Vanessa Redgrave (Claire), and she’s pretty good. I was afraid to watch the movie for fear of what kind of fool it would make her look like, but it didn’t. It’s a pretty respectful love story about an older couple, without a single senior citizen hip hop dancing or flashing gang signs. (Somebody remind me why that shit is funny?)
And it’s soooooooo pretty – the whole movie. The characters flit around Tuscany looking for Claire’s Lorenzo, “the ragazzo that got away” and it just made me want to get on a plane and go back to Italy.
The young people’s love story is a little ho-hum, but that’s OK; It’s not horrible. It’s just another of those movies in which they never really explain why the couple falls for each other. They’re both very good looking – I guess that’s enough. But when Claire finds her Lorenzo, I got a little shiver. Vanessa Redgrave is a super actress and she made me feel that her breath really was taken away by the sight of him.
There’s a very cute scene in which Lorenzo after Lorenzo claims to be the one she’s looking for, and bit parts were given to a couple actresses that I loved in “Bread and Tulips”. And the soundtrack is a whole lot of fun, full of old Italian pop songs.
All in all, I have to say it’s not half bad. It’s a great “there’s nothing good on TV so let’s makes some popcorn” chick flick.
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I Love Italian Everything 