Amanda Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Amanda Blu-ray Movie Review

"Imagine there's a third way. That I don't have to choose between life and death..."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown December 28, 2024

Loneliness and longing persist in Italian writer/director Carolina Cavalli's debut feature Amanda, which deftly utilizes an exceptional Benedetta Porcaroli (Netflix's Baby) to explore isolation and mid-twenties friendship. Wry, funny and dry as an overbaked cake, the film's deadpan coming-of-age comedy was a hit in the Orizzonti Extra block at the 79th Venice Film Festival and more globally at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival, and would go on to earn accolades in 2022/23 from audiences and critics. And for good reason. Though it offers little revelation or epiphany compared to select other, more complex cinematic musings on the subject, it does so with such style and seeming ease that it's disarming. Never cutesy or precocious, mind you, but clever enough to know itself and know its place in a longtime crowded genre ever eager to capture the feelings of being young, restless and aimless; stuck at home, with parents and family who may as well be aliens, searching for connection in a world that doesn't provide anything without a cost.

Born into three generations of an unhealthy upper-class Italian family with a doting matriarch (Monica Nappo) who foots the bill for her indolent lifestyle, 24-year-old Amanda (emerging talent Benedetta Porcaroli) is a combative young woman searching for a boyfriend, only to collect -- and be rejected -- by misfits and miscreants repelled by her intensity. Love is a foreign word in Amanda's home, particularly when it comes to her feelings about her sister Marina (Margherita Maccapani Missoni), and she struggles to understand its place in her world, respecting only two people in her limited existence: her overly religious niece and her niece's South American nanny. She longs for a real relationship, a real bond with another human being, but has never really made a friend of her own. Until, that is, she discovers and reignites a long-lost childhood friendship with Rebecca (Galatea Bellugi), a young woman with her own toxic mother (Vittoria Mezzogiorno), spurring a mission to convince another recluse that they are still the best of friends. Written and directed by Cavalli, the film received three nominations from the Italian David di Donatello for Best Directorial Debut, Best Leading Actress and Best Supporting Actress, along with two Nastri d'Argento nominations for Directorial Debut and Leading Actress. It also stars Michele Bravi, Monica Nappo, Ana Cecilia Ponce and Amelia Elisabetta Biuso.

It would be too brash and shortsighted to dismiss Amanda as style over substance. What single, privileged twenty-four year old's daily thoughts aren't dominated by the same? Between the laughs and lightly absurdist comedy is a not-so-shallow examination of grieving a life yet lived; the desperate pawing at an uncertain future that seems untouchable, whether due to family standing in the way or failing to understand people from the lonely balcony on which you've long been perched. Childhood was a joyless affair for Amanda, so it's little wonder that adulthood has brought her to a crossroads of confusion, desire and frustration. The collision of these three disparate elements leave her breathless and angry, reeling from an injury she feels but has no cause she can identify. The arrival of Rebecca is less a chance at friendship and more a convenient escape hatch that turns into something more. Amada's hyper-attachment doesn't help matters, of course, but her co-dependency meets the co- dependency of another in melodramatic deadpan fashion, bringing both girls to the point of rebellion from mothers with an affinity for suffocating their daughters.

Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola are clear influences on Cavalli, who shoots Amanda with static, center-grounded character composition and allows its female leads to wax poetic, even when it reveals lesser, more selfish creatures at their core. This is no feminist parable, nor young love blossoming; rather odd eccentrics drawing together with common purpose to the betterment of... no one. Porcaroli hoists the film on her shoulders and brings a steadiness and determination to the screen only seen in the best young actresses, and she inhabits the role with such equal parts ferocity and disregard that she becomes the titular protagonist. The actress fades from view quickly and quietly, manifesting something of a spoiled monstrosity whose appetites must be satiated or else the sky might fall and the world might burn. It's her scorched earth approach, combined with Cavalli's eye for making the most of nearly nothing, that marches the film to, yes, a bit too conventional an ending, but one that completes a satisfying and strangely amusing journey nonetheless.

Amanda Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Oscilloscope grants Amanda a stunning 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that's as faithful as it is filmic. Rich in palette and draped with bold primaries, the film is all at once overly monochromatic and emotionally colorful, a conflict made that much more striking by the presentation. Black levels are deep and utterly real, contrast is perfectly balanced (despite the film having a subdued brightness at times), and detail is excellent. Edge definition is crisp and clean, fine textures are beautifully resolved and delineation is flawless and as revealing as every scene calls for. There also isn't any compression artifacts or banding of note, nor any issue that might distract from Cavalli's artistry and the deceptively simple clarity of Lorenzo Levrini's cinematography. Top marks here.

Amanda Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Amanda's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track delivers as well. You just may need to manually select it, as the disc defaults to the LPCM 2.0 mix for me. Dialogue is clear and intelligible, dynamics are terrific when called upon, and the soundscape moves effortless between quaint and complex. Subtlety is the name of the game (when Amanda isn't arguing or shouting) and the minimal LFE support is perfectly suited to the task at hand. Rear speaker activity is present, almost at all times, though subdued, allowing for a realism of space and place to dominate without resorting to cheap sonic tricks of the trade. Directionality is precise and pans are smooth, rounding out the superbly minimalistic sound design.

Amanda Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Amanda: On Set Music Video (HD, 4 minutes)

• Deleted Scenes (HD, 7 minutes) - Three lengthy scenes are included.

• Trailers (HD)

Amanda Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Amanda is a coming-of-age dramedy worth watching, particularly for anyone who enjoys international independent filmmaking or a fresh new female director's take on growing up in a world of lunatic adults. Oscilloscope's Blu-ray release is strong too (if you ignore its rather shallow supplemental package), with terrific video and audio presentations. Recommended.