Manuale D’amore 3 (2011) (Manual of Love)

“Manuale D’amore” is an Italian film directed by Giovanni Veronesi starring Robert De Niro and Monica Belucci. It is a sequel of Manuale D’amore (2005) and Manuale D’amore 2 – Capitoli successivi (2007). Though I did not watch first two films, I enjoyed watching this one.

The film consists of three parts each following a different couple and describing three times of love: youth (Giovinezza), maturity (Maturita) and beyond (Oltre). Young Cupid, who sometimes has too much make-up on his face, narrates the stories. All characters and stories in the film are related.

First couple –handsome Roberto (Riccardo Scamarcio) and beautiful Sara are deeply in love with each other. Roberto is a young lawyer, who is sent to seaside town in the province of Tuscany, Italy to convince a family to sell their house. There, among adorable simple Italian people he makes new friends and finds a new love. But, soon enough he understands that this love was not meant to be.

Fabio and Eliana are second, mature couple. Fabio has a loving wife and daughter. He meets an obsessive woman Eliana, who pretends to be a psychiatrist. He gives way to her manipulation and to their relationship. As a result, Fabio loses his family and job.

Third couple – Adrian (Robert De Niro) and Viola (Monica Belucci) are introduced to each other by Viola’s father, who is Adrian’s friend. Her father finds out that Viola worked as a stripper and has a huge dept. Here Adrian comes to a help.

The film and characters are quite ordinary and lively. Veronesi has done a great job by making film to reflect real life with its simple and at the same time complicated love stories. The story is romantic and relaxing. You can feel enjoyable Italian culture and passion throughout the film.

If you are tired of Hollywood-ish films, then “Manuale D’amore” is for you. It is a good watch with your other half. Enjoy!

Reviewer's rating: 6.5 out of 10

Limitless (2011)

I have just watched “Limitless”, film directed by Neil Burger. It is a crazy film about drug addiction, drug-chasing and drug-dealing. It is not a boring and not a deep film. It does not leave lasting impressions, but it is interesting to watch.

Main character, Edward Morra, is a writer whose girlfriend dumps him in the beginning of story. His life is one big mess. He fails with deadlines of his new book. His flat is unclean and messy, just like him. It is here, he meets his ex-brother-in-law Vernon Grant. Vernon gives Eddie one tablet of a new drug called NZT. Well, it is not just a drug; it provides access to 100 % of the brain power. Thanks to this drug, he finishes his book extremely fast in a short time.

Later he finds Vernon dead in his flat, searches his flat for drug and finds stash of NZT. Edward understands that there are no limits to his ability and abandons his writing career. He starts trading stocks. He becomes rich and gets back together with Lindy. He takes more and more NZT for fast learning and thinking. But nothing comes without side effects. Soon, his memory starts to fail, and he becomes frenetic.

His ex-wife Melissa, who also was an NZT-addict, warns him about major health problems in case of withdrawal from NZT. He manages to consume drug in an average level, assists his new boss in making an important deal, and gets away from murder charges and also from Russian thug Gennady.

As usual for these types of films, a year later we see Eddie, in a better position, running for the United States Senate. While refusing Carl’s (Robert De Niro) offer of an unlimited NZT, Eddie mentions that he no longer needs the drug. He says that modified version of drug has helped him to come off the drug, though in the last scene of film  he speaks Chinese with waiter  and it is left unclear (as it is fashionable nowadays) whether he uses NZT or not.

Bradley Cooper plays his role very well. He changes his attitude a couple of times throughout the film and becomes a new person each time. Cooper delivers it flawlessly. He makes the film a nice watch.

Reviewer's rating: 7.0 out of 10