But Forever on My Mind

For those who enjoyed "Last Kiss" (L'Ultimo Bacio) and "Remember Me My Love" (Ricordati di Me), this is a chance to see an early effort by director Gabriele Muccino. Made in 1999, it is a lightweight romantic comedy involving contemporary Italian teenagers, set amidst a farcical student insurrection at the local high school. Sixteen-year-old Silvio (Silvio Muccino) and his friends have one big thing on their minds, to lose their virginity. Silvio has a fascination for the pretty Valentina (Giulia Carmignani), who happens to be going out with his friend Martino. After an impetuous kiss with the girl when they are alone, he stupidly blabs it to his pals and soon the whole school knows, including an enraged Martino and a dejected Claudia (the lovely Giulia Steigerwalt) who has been secretly nursing a crush for him. Muccino juxtaposes his story of adolesecent first love with a satirical look at teenage rebellion where the left wing students, inspired by their parents' own days of student activism, try to instigate a protest against a school reform program. Their aims encapsulated in the inane chant, "no to privatisation, no to standardisation," sound woolly and quite silly which was undoubtedly Muccino's intention. This adolescent rage contrasts vividly with the sweet blossoming of young love. An engaging early effort from a director who has become much more famous with his recent films. The script written by Muccino, his teenage brother Silvio and another teenager, Adele Tulli, won the Best Screenplay award at the 2000 Brussels Film Festival.

The DVD from PictureThis is pretty good if bare-bones. The transfer is in the film's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The only negative point is the lack of anamorphic enhancement (not enhanced for widescreen TV). Otherwise picture quality is excellent with a clean clear print, rich, vibrant colors, natural skin tones and deep black levels. The Italian soundtrack comes in its original 2.0 stereo and a 5.1 surround mix. Optional english subtitles are provided.

COME TE NUSSUNO MAI translates from Italian to "like you anyone ever" or one's first experiences in life are unique solely to you, never having been experienced by anyone in history. BUT FOREVER IN MY MIND is simply a quote lifted from this film about the agonies and ecstasies of adolescence and to fully appreciate the story from the adolescent aspect, the Italian title is far more appropriate.

As written by brothers Gabriele and Silvio Muccino (also Gabriele directs and Silvio stars) this radiant little film covers a day in the lives of Italian highschool kids caught up in a youthful rebellion against their school's policies while at the same time sorting out the nascent changes in their burgeoning sexuality. The boys languish over their expected, anxiously awaited first physical encounter while the girls (at times on split screen just to make the comparison more strongly) relate their feelings about first time encounters with the boys. The two stories run parallel: student riots involve the police and of course eventually their parents, the two sources of authority the kids naturally challenge, and the taste of honey one of the boys achieves which becomes a gossiped, bloated misdirected moment of braggadocio that eventually leads to the serendipitous beautifully innocent discovery of teenage love.

The young boys include Silvio (Silvio Muccino) and his talkative confident Ponzi (Giuseppe Sanfelice), the one sexually active lad Martino (Simone Pagani) while the girls include the experienced Valentina (Giulia Carmignani) partner of Martino, and Claudia (Giulia Steigerwalt), Silvio's longtime friend who dreams of a relationship beyond friendship. The remainder of the cast (especially Enrico Silvestrin and Giulia Ciccone who are splendid as Silvio's 'ex-hippie' parents) is quite strong. The parallel between the physical rebellion in the school incident and the hormonal rebellion within this collected group's bodies is a true sense of cinematic metaphor and makes for a fast-paced, humorous, touching coming of age story that is a joy to watch! In Italian with English subtitles. Grady Harp, May 05

why is this movie listed in the gay/lesbian section? there is no gay content in this movie!?

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