User reviews

I enjoyed the movie, beautifully shot and an interesting drama. However Rocco Ricciardulli was hopelessly mis-cast as the father of Riccardo Scamarcio. He didn't look like his son, he was far too young to be his father and was acting "too handsome" to be the sorrowful character he was supposed to be. In addition his wife looked more like his mother. So I checked the movie out on IMDB. Mystery solved. He co-wrote and directed the movie. Tip: don't cast yourself in a movie unless you fit the part.

An Italian drama based on real events. Not a love story completely takes a turn in the middle of the movie. It is about a married man whose mistress is the daughter of one of the lords of the town and the process of being discovered. Quality. The time spectacularly recreated. Good performances. Good effects on the few that are needed. He talks about the almost authoritarians of the people, the abuse of power, the repressed rebellions, the revenge. The only problem is that it has a good rhythm and after the middle it plummets and becomes slow and limp, making you lose interest at times. With a rather bittersweet interpretive ending, since they make you understand other things. Ideal to spend the afternoon.

A movie good enough for open minded people we're able to find on Netflix these days. We find quality acting. The movie is sometimes brutal. Original storytelling based on a true story ? The end is really weird though.

Very enjoyable movie, not Hollywood and the usual clichés we've become hooked on. Deserves better that 5.6 , I'd give it a 7.

Not a bundle of laughs , but we'll acted and directed and a believable story line. Give it a whirl !

Only for beautiful photography & scenery of Italy Rating this movie 5.. as for story line there was nothing worth watching even the ending was not satisfying .. a daily soap series crunched into a movie ..

Wouldn't life be so much easier if we loved each other more? Not necessarily sexually speaking, but just plain have affection for each other, embrace each other instead of hate each other just because we are differnt or want something (similar).

But if that were the case you wouldn't have conflicts and some would say life would be boring. As is true for movies too of course. Imagine everyone hugging and kissing each other, instead of going at each others throats (literally and metaphorically speaking). Love can solve certain things, but also heighten others ... especially if it is considered "forbidden love" ... there is drama and fun here, but there is surprisingly enough also quite the amount of violence packed in here. I had no issues with it, but I imagine those only watching dramas may find it hard to stomach (no pun intended). Just be aware of it.

...but if you fall, you crash. The Last Paradiso toys with some classics of the Italian neo realism, from Rossellini to Germi and De Sica but it's like playing with fire if you can't master the stuff. Young director Ricciardulli has taken up a task way above his skills and he gets it wrong on so many levels that it hurts: from a silly screenplay with carton-board dialogues to worn out clichés. But where he fails mostly is with the tone of voice of his movie, which swings randomly from tragic (in the crudely violent scenes of mafia) to sugary lighthearted (in the corny romance scenes) without finding a cohesive unity, and a good photography is not enough to save the day.

Hot passions and family rivalries in the poor regions of 1950s Sicily or Southern Italy are the themes here. The film has great production values , looks beautiful, the period is evoked well, and the drama ('based on real events') absorbs just enough for a satisfying two hours or so, it just isn't anything more than satisfactory.

It starts promising...The rest is very boring...

Story is very shallow and actors cant do miracles...

I dont reccomend it..

Perfect music choices, high production values, sets and skillful actors in an otherwise average drama that appears to miss its point. The main character being somewhat of an antihero doesn't get much sympathy from me either. The premature plot twist too early makes the end of the film quite uninteresting and almost pointless. It may be the way the film was cut, or it's just as it is, a story that does well on a novel but not on a film.

It certainly has the look and feel of the old italian films in general and that gave a very positive vibe to me. It's not a new masterpiece though.

I enjoy the scenery, oh yes, for a dried desert it was quite beautiful, but for the story? Oh damn, it was boring. I knew it was going to be boring from watching the trailer but it's REAL boring. Modern Italian films aren't great anymore. I recently watched Two Women (La ciociara) and it was pretty good, which is currently free on Vudu or Prime Video btw, and I noticed something. I think the reason why Modern Italian films aren't good anymore because the films are basically GQ photoshoots... They look good, but there is no story.

I thought that it was a classic romantic movie in Italy. The first half of this movie was good but not wow. Then it became a very deep dramatic movie and the end was unpredictable but stupid. I didn't like the whole messenge. I don't suggest seeing this. It's a waste of time.

Watching this film made me feel what my father must have witnessed as an 8/9 yr old in Calabria. And l can confirm that this was as accurate as it can be, l know this because l was told as a young woman from the horse's mouth as they say. Young women being preyed just because they were poor and desperate.

Two of these women were family members of mine. One being my grandmother, my father's mother and the other my Aunt my mother's sister both, bore children from it!

The Italians suffered badly at the hands of greedy land owners and of course the Mafia! And to think these were the 50s not the dark ages. It makes me sad and angry to sit and watch what my father had to witness and many others the sufferance they had to endure.

Even though l had to watch this alone with my own feelings and thoughts, a good illustration of the times in southern Italy. The end was a bit fuzzy but l suppose With all the sufferance, they wanted to sugarcoat a bit with a happy ending. Concetta Gallo

The first half seemed promising. A married but promiscuous village man falls in love with the local crime bosses daughter. The crime boss is a rapist of fifteen year old girls but expects his daughters to be paragons of virtue.

There is an unconvincing attempt to add a social issue with one of the landowners cheating the villagers. But that soon peters out and it's back to the lovers.

I had no sympathy for Ciccio - he got what he deserved in my opinion.

The second half of the film dealt with Ciccio's brother returning to the village - and it was all downhill from there. He spent a lot of time looking serious and walking around.

The ending was typical art house - incomprehensible and utterly pretentious and stupid.

An insult to anybody's intelligence. Mysterious does not equal marvelous.

Avoid.

In rural 1950's Italy, Riccardo Scamarcio kind of borrows part of the plot of "La Terra Trema" (with olives replacing fish) while having constant affairs despite having a wife and child. The main woman he's sleeping with is Gaia Bermani Amaral, the daughter of Olive Baron Antonio Gerardi.

This is a terrible movie that has GENERIC ARTHOUSE PLOT #43 with sluggish pacing and pretty rural Italian countryside footage culminating in a fairly shocking twist halfway through. What happens after that is seemingly unintentional comedy involving a prominent moustache and a really confusing plot.

Even though you can watch it for free ... don't.

I am Italian and this is one of the worst Italian movies I have ever seen...I am sorry for Scamarcio cause he can be a great actor, but this one must have been a mistake...

Netflix should be appreciated. They embraced a movie that is not for everyone. First of all, I think the movie got me in because I am Turkish. Because villagers, olives, agha order ... Everything is very familiar. Riccardo Scamarcio has done a great job. He believed in what he did. Deserves the award as a script or acting or producer. I wish I bought it even though it was Blu-ray edition.

Forget and disregard any negative comments about the film! The movie is wonderful !! A masterpiece!! Grade 10! 5 stars!

Cracking film with a wonderful cadence. This is not a film for everyone, judging by some of the negative reviews. This won't appeal to tiny minds and empty souls who may harbour a fondness for 'movies' with 'Avengers' somewhere in the title.