Undescribable Perfection

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

All the other reviews have gone over the plot details so I won't. Genoa looks interesting and romantic,and the actors play their parts well. But this whole story turns on the fact that Dad virtually abandons His children for the summer in a confusing city in a foreign country. After almost no orientation to their new home He hands His two daughters, ages i6 and 9,the keys and says "Good luck finding your way back home down these winding,maze like,cobble stoned alleys." Sure He comes home from work and comforts the younger daughter when she has nightmares, but He lets the older girl run wild with no control or consequences when she comes home late for curfew,and won't tell Him who she's been with or what she's doing.I don't care how much they're all mourning the death of their wife and mother,or how much the father is in denial about what His kids needs are,the very least the parent should do is set limits to behavior and control them for their own good. There never seems to be any question of "What are you doing? What are you thinking? You can't do this!"

The storyline is illogical. Who would take their children, after the trauma of losing their mother, to a centuries-old Italian city where they don't know the language, they know no-one, everything is foreign to them. The inter-relationships completely feel dysfunctional. The father is utterly ineffectual in nurturing his children. His children are having serious difficulties and he is clueless. If the purpose of placing the story in Genova was to give a metaphorical backdrop to the character's suffering then I don't accept it. That is how the movie feels - as if getting lost in a moldy old Italian city is how it feels to lose one's mother. It is bullshit. I found the movie painful to watch because the father is pathetic and clueless and the story illogical. No one would take their children to a shitty old Italian city after losing their mother.

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

From the very beginning, to the very end of the film, the viewer is presented with a sense of foreboding and impending doom. The subtle passages of a typical child's life, complicated by the death of loved one, promotes a deep concern for the young characters' safety and well-being. These concerns intensify as the movie progresses. By the end of the movie, the viewer is left deep in thought, and somewhat conflicted.The director brilliantly gives the audience a heart-pounding glimpse of what it feels like everyday to parent tweens and teens. The balance of love, concern and worry is in every clip. The film's ending exemplifies the simplicity of just another day in the cycle of fear and pain that accompanies the love of a child.