One of my favorites -- a "perfect" movie by MY standards: intelligent, a good story, great direction, an attractive and effective cast, and stunning locales and photography. An elegant production -- not one lame or wasted moment. New York-based American diva Jill Clayburgh, a true celebrity, is married to (it could happen!) Fred Gwynne. Her only child, a teenage son (Matthew Barry) accompanies his parents to a plush rental home in Italy, where Clayburgh's opera career has taken her, and where his biological father lives. Though hobnobbing and partying with the rich and famous in Rome, Clayburgh nonetheless is worried about her son because of his "distance" and solitude, -- he doesn't take to his step-father -- his general teenage angst, and his pending reunion with his "real" father. Clayburgh's motherly instincts kick in and she soon learns her loving son has indeed fallen in with the "wrong crowd." Mamma mia! He is on his way to being a junkie and Clayburgh takes rather "extreme" steps to get the boy's mind off heroin and other cheap thrills. Not for the kiddies, but entertaining for grown-ups who like something different and have open minds.
The adult theme is rather tame, relatively speaking, and is handled well and not explicitly, especially compared with the moronic garbage being spewed out in American movies and TV today. Certainly not in the nearly-x-rated category of Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris," for example. What I want to know is whatever happened to the hauntingly handsome then-youngster Matthew Barry? He could have had a promising film career, based on his good looks and his performance in Luna. I saw this on Cinemax in the early, good old days (early 1980s) when it aired great movies, especially foreign films. I have tried, but been unable to, buy it, sad to say.)
The adult theme is rather tame, relatively speaking, and is handled well and not explicitly, especially compared with the moronic garbage being spewed out in American movies and TV today. Certainly not in the nearly-x-rated category of Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris," for example. What I want to know is whatever happened to the hauntingly handsome then-youngster Matthew Barry? He could have had a promising film career, based on his good looks and his performance in Luna. I saw this on Cinemax in the early, good old days (early 1980s) when it aired great movies, especially foreign films. I have tried, but been unable to, buy it, sad to say.)