My Brother Is an Only Child
THINKFilm | Release Date: March 28, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
There's a hilarious performance of a "de-fascisized" version of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," and the soundtrack prominently features an Italian version of the crypto-fascist girl-group classic "I Will Follow Him," a joke Kenneth Anger first made in "Scorpio Rising" that's still funny today. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Moviegoers of a certain age may feel as though they are watching a lost Bertolucci film. Read full review
80
EmpireRoss Bennett
Thanks to the captivating performances, this is well worth checking out. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Petraglia and Rulli once again display their gift for bringing the texture of reality to family drama, for creating people and situations that involve us completely. My Brother Is an Only Child is not the only film that does this, but it's a product that's in shorter and shorter supply every year. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Intelligent, well-acted movie. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneSid Smith
It’s a history lesson, a look at ’60s strife inside a corner far removed from our more familiar American images of that era. It’s also brightly performed, from sullen, boorish, yet charismatic Scamarcio to the instinctive, charming, infuriating characterization by Germano. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Ripe, ferociously acted comic drama. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter Addiego
A provocative character study and portrait of the times. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Though it's well-cast and convincingly captures the look and feel of its era, the film loses steam as Accio's story meanders to a predictable conclusion. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
My Brother Is an Only Child isn't a critique of the left but a film about the consequences and responsibility of "political action." Luchetti measures social justice not in ideals but in positive change and the compassion with which it is accomplished. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Great title, and the whiff of existential loneliness that it conjures up – brothers locked not in solidarity but in solitude – permeates the entire movie. Read full review
70
VarietyJay Weissberg
Scripted by "The Best of Youth" duo who brought the post-WWII years into stark and moving light, pic offers a warm humor that illuminates the defiant vista of hope even when the proceedings turn tragic. Read full review
70
Village VoiceNick Pinkerton
Tumultuously shot "rawness" is the stylistic house rule, but it's Elio Germano's Accio who vitalizes the film. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
A lively minor addendum to the grand tradition of Italian fraternal cinema. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
What makes My Brother Is an Only Child so alive and entertaining is how it dramatizes the endless tug-of-war between political conviction and personal experience--the way the lines twist and blur and finally implode. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Although the movie never quite dispels the sense of being dated (it could have been made anytime in the past 40 years), it's a memorable, often moving timepiece. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The movie is a veritable scrapbook of tropes from the heyday of art film. Maybe that's why it feels gauzy and quaint. Yet time passes pleasantly. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleJosh Rosenblatt
I suppose, in the end, My Brother Is an Only Child is a coming-of-age story about a young man who – like the era he was born into – has no idea how to come of age, except by violent fits and starts, in all directions, to varying ends, and ready to change course whenever the mood strikes. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderMichael Atkinson
The rough-and-tumble tone is bitterly entertaining but in the end doesn't contribute to a convincing historical portrait, and a pileup of half-baked resolutions spoils the buzz. Read full review
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