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Movie Review: Italian for Beginners (Scherfig)

I knew almost nothing about Italian for Beginners before I went to see it, other than a few people who said it was very good. When the movie started with the Dogme 95 certificate, I thought I was going to be in for something pretty good. And it was very enjoyable! I wouldn't want to only see Dogme95 films, but it really is a great change of pace after watching big-budget action movies to see stories about people. When done right, it is almost like listening to your friend that is a good storyteller telling one of their classsic stories. This time it was a story of a group of lonely people in a Danish town whose lives intersect through an Italian language class. I could relate to certain aspects of this situation! A lot of the characters are likable in quirky ways, but nothing is really overdone after the coincidences that bring them all together. The movie definitely ends on a happy note for the main characters, which may have been a little bit of a stretch, but it was nice to leave the movie feeling happy. This definitely wasn't as intense as The Celebration but I really did enjoy it.