by Zefred for FILMbutton

Who doesn’t remember fondly their away-from-home student years? Who hasn’t had their heart broken when leaving a beloved and filled-with-great-memories place? Fino a Qui Tutto Bene (So Far So Good) starts right away on this nostalgic note, playing sentimental strings on many of us, and does just that for 80 minutes of a reminiscing, emotional and funny trip down memory lane.

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Just like a lot of other students-growing-up-into-adulthood dramatic comedies, including the famous L’Auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Apartment) from French Director Cédric Klapish, or, on a different note, the American Pie series, the movie focuses on the end of an era for a group of five friends about to leave their beautiful shared apartment in Pisa. All leaving for slightly different reasons, but mainly because their student years are done, and the economic crisis forces them to pursue new endeavours, Vincenzo, Cioni, Ilaria, Andrea and Francesca are spending their last days together, packing, chatting, remembering, and, of course, bringing old grudges back on the table : who slept with whom, who did better or worse, who cheated or not, who was sometimes a ball and chain, good (and bad) surprises, etc.

The director (Roan Johnson) and the great ensemble cast of the film (Alessio Vassallo, Paolo Cioni, Silvia D’Amico, Guglielmo Favilla, Melissa Bartolini) engulf us in a festival of emotions, in the middle of a splendid imagery of Pisa and its surroundings, all supported by a fantastic soundtrack. The film, dedicated to all those who’re still rowing (an European metaphor for struggling with life) is a perfect little object of reflection on this stage of our lives, when separation and leaving the comfort zone is inevitable in order to grow up.

Zefred is an award winning French/Canadian filmmaker, film lover and journalist whose short films have been screened at multiple festivals around the world. He writes regularly for the prestigious French Magazine L’Écran Fantastique and the Torontonian French Newspaper L’Express de Toronto.

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