Reviews

Richard Curtis was already an expert as far as romantic comedies are concerned (he was the writer of Marshall's "Notting Hill", for instance), but in this movie he manages to innovate the genre. First of all, there's no protagonist, and the story, rather than being centered around a character, is centered around a place, London, and a time of the year, Christmas. The viewer begins to love all the people that come on screen, and all the actors (among them Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson) are good; the music is absolutely perfect for setting the mood, shifting continuously from diegetic to non-diegetic and underlying the most important moments in each character's story. Some of the stories are realistic, others are definitely fantastic, but the film manages to be really uplifting, and even if sometimes too cheeky, it succeeds in entertaining the viewer. People want to believe that "Love Actually is all Around", even if sometimes it's not visible; dreamers are all around! Do we believe in things because they're true, or do things become true as we believe in them? Especially as far as human relationships, projections of our desires and fears build them day by day, more than actual events: falling in love is a pure and extreme act of faith. I like this movie, it makes me smile every time I watch it, and that's a lot; it conveys hope, even when showing betrayal and gloomy situations, and love needs hope. It doesn't tell everything about love, but what movie or what work of art, generally speaking, can be complete and satysfying about something so mysterious, so different in shapes and developments? A lovely movie, definitely.

This movie is not the best I've ever seen, and probably not as good as "Breaking the Waves". But I left the theatre astonished, shocked, sad, confused, and a bit angry with the director, for being so cruel (and true?) in portraying human behaviour with vulnerable people, for using no props, for forcing me to watch the characters in their eyes and facial expressions 'cause there was nothing to draw my attention away. But this movie deserves to be seen, because that's what an artist is supposed to do, to share a bit of his thoughts and views, without giving answers, but arousing emotions and questions: and it has probably more right to be than other blockbuster movies sold by studios with nothing but what people like to see in it.