At its core, The First Beautiful Thing is a charming, somewhat heavy-handed film — particularly if you have ever experienced the loss of a parental figure. Virzì delivers his film's message in a most assuredly valid way, though his non-linear method of storytelling jumps back and forth from the '70s and '80s to the present day so much, it begins to get downright annoying at times. Nevertheless, this drama is a well-made one, and it is easy to see why this one was submitted to the 83rd Academy Awards (it didn't win, just in case you don't remember that far back, either — although it was a critic favorite and won several other awards around the globe).
As to why we're getting it on home video now two years later is beyond me, but the folks at Palisades Tartan Films have given us a fine-looking Standard Definition (in Italian with nice big removable English subtitles) with only a trailer as an extra. The lack of any other special features is a bit of a bummer, but I guess these beautiful things have to end somewhere, right?
.jpg?t=20130517094513)
Article comments