My Family and Other Animals (2005)

it is easy to define it as inspired adaptation. or as one great stories. and, maybe, like one of the perfect choice for entire family. in fact, it is one of the adventure in the perfect fantasia. from the perspective of a child, discovering, in Corfu, the taste of life, chaos, animals and relatives relations, passion an sadness, sketch about a form of Paradise. seems be real seductive. and, off course, it is it.

I recall being "forced" to read this book in a cold Winter in London in about 1978. The magic of the book is effortlessly transfered to this screen version. The only fly-in-the-ointment is that the book chronicles several seasons on Corfu, rather than the screen version with its perpetual Summer. That aside, it remains a solid piece of film-making and Mr Americanos (who is actually an Iranian comedian) shines as the families taxi driver. He would HAVE to have visited Greece to know that his character is perfect! Believe me, I lived in Greece for six years and people like him still exist. I lived in Crete rather than Corfu but, hey, it's a beautiful part of the world expertly shown in this film.

a book. a writer confession about his golden age. and an inspired adaptation. that is all. at first sigh. because , like a dish, in this case, the taste, the flavor, the delicious atmosphere has few little secret ingredients. first - the script who explore the Durell universe with gentle and wise precision. than, the cast and for this slice must see the movie for understand. than - the music. the spice remains British humor but that is the great and magnificent virtue because its rhythm is always the same. the joy, adventure, spirit, curiosity of childhood is on front chair. the craziness, the eccentricity, egotism, strange situations are cages for each kind of public. but something must be more important - the extraordinary performance of two actors as cinnamon of this splendid pie - Eugene Simon and, sure, great Imelda Staunton. it is not really a movie. only perfect bottle for pure form of joy.

I caught this movie on PBS at four in the morning and was hooked for the next two hours. It's a funny, original story beautifully shot (one assumes on location in Greece). The focus of the film is on the youngest member of an eccentric British family and his absorbing interest in nature, but the rest of his clan all have their own unique quirks. It's a little bit like James Herriot by way of ALICE IN WONDERLAND. But what impressed me most of all was the assured direction. It jumps from character to character and incident to incident, all vastly amusing, without ever becoming boring or wasting a frame. It makes me want to hunt down the TV series or go read the books. By all means catch this if you ever have a chance.