An opera buffa (minus the singers) about Italians in London, a tale of elopement, espresso, and revenge. For all that England intrudes into the ethnic enclave, it could as well be about Italians anywhere, which may be the point. Any other point will be a matter of wildest conjecture. We know from E.M. Forster (that relentlessly subtle haranguer) that Italians are passionate, open, spontaneous as compared to pinched and shrivelled Britishers, but you need representatives of both camps to make a point like that. And it would take something less familiar and overworked than fractured English and rolled eyeballs to extract any charm from mere foreignness. (Charm is sought from another source -- the narration and point of view of a ten-year-old child -- as though with a rattled tin cup.) Jon Amiel's cameras, seldom getting out of a crouch, conspire to lift and stretch the scenes in such a way as to accord them more importance than they otherwise earn. Anita Zagaria, Joseph Long, Eileen Way. (1989) — Duncan Shepherd
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