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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Going back to the Duran-Duran era!, 3 September 2006
7/10
Author: Giulia from Italy

I think this movie is perfect! It's not a masterpiece, of course, but it was never supposed to be. It's a simple movie about teenagers, about high-school, about growing up. But it perfectly catches the atmosphere of the late 80s! It's nice and funny, without ever being banal (which often happens in this kind of movies). The young actors created characters that are real and not just a stereotype! It's like the Italian "Breakfast Club"! Watching this movie, it was like going back in time of 20 years: the music, the haircut, the clothes, the cars... That's why I would recommend it also to not-Italian people, because this movie gives a realistic idea of how was living in Italy in the "Duran-Duran era"! ;)

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8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Not a masterpiece but very enjoyable, 27 March 2006
7/10
Author: stf-nr from Italy

First of all, and just to put all cards on the table, this movie is nothing exceptional, nor an outstanding masterpiece... it is simply a nice movie on a lot of classic problems teenagers are facing when passing from adolescence to adult age. And if you are getting close (or just entered) your thirties you will absolutely enjoy a lot of reference to the late 80s music and way of life because one of the best ideas they had when writing the screenplay has been to move the story back of about 25 years. And notice the performance of Giorgio Faletti as the high-school teacher, he is a nearly perfect mix of comic and tragedy. Definitively worth a view!

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6 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Going back to the Duran-Duran era!, 3 September 2006
7/10
Author: Giulia from Italy

I think this movie is perfect! It's not a masterpiece, of course, but it was never supposed to be. It's a simple movie about teenagers, about high-school, about growing up. But it perfectly catches the atmosphere of the late 80s! It's nice and funny, without ever being banal (which often happens in this kind of movies). The young actors created characters that are real and not just a stereotype! It's like the Italian "Breakfast Club"! Watching this movie, it was like going back in time of 20 years: the music, the haircut, the clothes, the cars... That's why I would recommend it also to not-Italian people, because this movie gives a realistic idea of how was living in Italy in the "Duran-Duran era"! ;)

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A movie for two generations, 18 June 2008
9/10
Author: marco-frullanti from Italy

"Notte Prima Degli Esami" is for the most part a teen movie, but a great one indeed. It depicts the last days of high school of a group of friends before the final exam (maturità). I always love the first scene, when Luca do what is the dream of every student: to tell his hated teacher what he really think about him, the relationship that grows between them and then the very final scene of the movie (I won't spoil it!). Most of the themes dealt are typical of comedies like this: love, coming of age, friendship, various accidents, but are presented in a way which really feel true. Most of the character are not really developed but are enjoyable anyway. Some dialogs are really funny and well written. But the two things that makes this movie great are the ones that makes it enjoyable to two different audience: the ones who were young in the '80's, the time when Notte Prima Degli Esami is set, who can appreciate the great soundtrack and many subtle details, and the ones who are about the same age of the characters now. I made the "Maturità" exams three years ago, and every time I see this movie it always reminds me the emotions that I felt those days, because it just feels so true: the anxiety, the accidents, the stress; but more than over the friendship that bound together me and my friends in those days just like the characters in "Notte Prima Degli Esami"!

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0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
La Notte Prima Degli Esami... è strana, (The Night Before The Exams... Is Weird) whether it be in 1989, 2004, or any other year., 17 April 2007
9/10
Author: marcus_stokes2000 from Italy

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

*Night Before The SPOILERS*

June 1989, last day of school.

Young Luca (Nicolas Vaporidis), who has just ended his final year of school, decides to reveal exactly what he thinks of his former professor, Mr. Martinelli (Giorgio Faletti), nicknamed 'Carogna', and just a second after finds out that he is going to be the head teacher at the 'Exams' of the title, the 'Esami Di Maturità', Italian High Schools' Final Exams.

Obviously, Luca despairs he's ever going to pass them, and to add insult to injury, he falls in love with a girl called Claudia (Cristiana Capotondi), who he met at a party neither of them was invited to... and who he doesn't know is none other than Martinelli's daughter! In the meanwhile, there are plenty of problems for his friends, too; other than the exams, of course; one of them sleeps with his girlfriend's younger sister (twice!) and gets his girlfriend pregnant, another one smokes a lot of pot, and decides to do a clandestine sell of (potential) titles of essays which will be given at the Maturità, and the only girl tries to give a hand whenever needed... and to hide her crush on Luca.

We meet also Claudia's friends, one of which has not been deemed able to do the Maturità, and her family... and her boyfriend Cesare, a compendium of bad traits if there is one (so much that his girlfriend writes to him 100 reasons why she has decided to break up with him).

And as the Maturità approaches, all the stories come to an end...

'Notte' is a breath of fresh air for the Italian Cinema, a movie made just to be enjoyed; not forced, and characterizing teenagers as people, instead of the usual 'oversexed' image.

One of the reviews described it as 'the Italian Breakfast Club'; and I agree, because despite the 1980s setting, even someone who, like me, did his Maturità only three years ago, can relate to those characters; everybody has been a Luca, fell in love with a Claudia (only to lose her to a Riccardo, or been an Alice, loving but silently, in fear of rejection. Everybody has done some stupid things like Massi, and I dare everyone to say they never met a 'Carogna' during their studies.

All I can say is, thank you Franco Brizzi for this beautiful movie.

Notte Prima Degli Esami: 9/10.

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0 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
A riveting picture of Italian teenage characters, 5 September 2006
8/10
Author: stefanobolzoni87 from Italy

Totally enjoyable and entertaining movie about a teenage mentality more then teenagers themselves: all the characteristic teen types are depicted here, with bright involvement and passionate lucidity. A deep insight in the ordinary problem solving activities of a bunch of friends approaching the daunting date of the final examinations, which becomes a mere pretext for the director to move all the threads of the plot. Very well constructed screenplay, tailor made to the actors in order to convey their way of thinking, to showcase their personality and to highlight the different purpose each character is moved by. Just a sample line: << Here there are all the theorems and mathematical formulas in the world >> ( showing with swanky confidence the sole of his shoe, full of maths stuff crammed there at the last minute right for the examination ). Unfortunately one of the high points of the movie - the Roman setting - may also prevent a foreign audience from thoroughly grasping the nuances, the allusions to domestic affairs scattered throughout the script and the score. This is high recommended classic Italian film-making, like Eastwood movies, if he were Roman.

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5 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
A maelstrom of fun, a wild dive into the teenager's world, 16 April 2006
9/10
Author: Andrea Vidusso (vid@postino.it) from Milano, Italy

It will make you laugh, it will make you dance, it will make you nostalgic, it will make you ponder, it will leave you energized. This Italian comedy, which deals with a bunch of teenagers about to graduate from high school, in the summer of 1989, is rich in rhythm and amusing situations. Scene after scene, the protagonists have the uncanny ability of getting messed up in situations more and more embarrassing: their spontaneousness and impulsiveness is infectious... and you as a viewer will quickly sympathize with them. It's also impossible not to feel a bit melancholic, when you watch the protagonists playing Subbuteo and the Commodore video game Emlyn Hughes International Soccer and you listen to music from the 80s (great soundtrack, though foreign viewers of this movie may not be able to appreciate how well it mingles with the story). Furthermore, the views of Rome are mesmerizing. Inevitably, the movie deals with the problems in the relationship with adults and teachers, but always with the lightheartedness that's proper of teenagers, as they easily shift their mind from one problem to the next one.

"Notte prima degli Esami" may not leave you spiritually enriched or wiser but, quoting professor Martinelli's words, "sometimes the important thing is not the result, but the road you undertake to reach it"... and, under this point of view, the movie certainly was an entertaining ride for me! 9/10

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0 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Going back to the Duran-Duran era!, 3 September 2006
7/10
Author: Giulia from Italy

I think this movie is perfect! It's not a masterpiece, of course, but it was never supposed to be. It's a simple movie about teenagers, about high-school, about growing up. But it perfectly catches the atmosphere of the late 80s! It's nice and funny, without ever being banal (which often happens in this kind of movies). The young actors created characters that are real and not just a stereotype! It's like the Italian "Breakfast Club"! Watching this movie, it was like going back in time of 20 years: the music, the haircut, the clothes, the cars... That's why I would recommend it also to not-Italian people, because this movie gives a realistic idea of how was living in Italy in the "Duran-Duran era"! ;)

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0 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Going back to the Duran-Duran era!, 3 September 2006
7/10
Author: Giulia from Italy

I think this movie is perfect! It's not a masterpiece, of course, but it was never supposed to be. It's a simple movie about teenagers, about high-school, about growing up. But it perfectly catches the atmosphere of the late 80s! It's nice and funny, without ever being banal (which often happens in this kind of movies). The young actors created characters that are real and not just a stereotype! It's like the Italian "Breakfast Club"! Watching this movie, it was like going back in time of 20 years: the music, the haircut, the clothes, the cars... That's why I would recommend it also to not-Italian people, because this movie gives a realistic idea of how was living in Italy in the "Duran-Duran era"! ;)

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