Me And You (2012)

Directed by: Bernardo Bertolucci
Country: Italy

Review: Bertolucci continues to portray youth with passion, although ultimately without big success. Less appealing than the previous “The Dreamers”, “Me And You” tells the adventure of two half-siblings who will spend a week together, trying to hide themselves from the world. Lorenzo is a problematic narcissist teenager, a misfit who has given up from going on a skiing trip with his classmates just to be alone inside the basement of his building. But his quietness will be interrupted by his half-sister Olivia, a drug addict with no place to stay in town. After the initial disagreement, they start to care for each other and a strong bond will grow between them. Lorenzo’s character was much more interesting than Olivia’s, but my curiosity about him slowly vanished throughout the story. The idea of getting stuck in a basement could be uncomfortable, but unfortunately the film didn’t take advantage of any possible claustrophobia. In fact, there were several moments that didn’t work out. The two situations that could have stirred up things a bit, failed to create any impact. The first was when the siblings went to Lorenzo’s apartment to get some food, and the second when Olivia went through an hangover. Bertolucci’s skills are perceptible, but this story promised more than it could give. Didn’t its characters do the same in the end?