Amanda

CinemaSerf

"Amanda" (Benedetta Porcaroli) is a rather indulged twenty-something who has no friends and lives a pretty isolated life devoid of any company that isn't from her immediate - and pretty dysfunctional - family. "Sofia" (Monica Nappo) is her mother and suggests that she goes to see "Rebecca" (Galatéa Bellugi) who is the equally lonesome daughter of her friend "Viola" (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) - only this girl hardly ever leaves her room in their rather ugly, fortress-like, concrete home. After a bit of a Mexican stand-off, the two gradually start to re-bond (they were childhood friends) but you just get the feeling that an upset is never far away - for any of them. It's a quirkily enjoyable film this with two strong performances from the girls and a scene-stealing bath tub scenario involving "Sofia" too. It is funny, offering a sort of observational wit rather than a chortle sort of humour and there are a couple of sub-plots - a boyfriend and an horse - just to ease the temperature a little now and again and allow us to recalibrate on the relationship between the girls and, increasingly, the enigmatic "Ann". There's not really a start or an end, it's just a middle we get here and it works because I'm not sure these girls really made much progress. It doesn't need a cinema, it'll work perfectly well on the telly so give it a go.