The political coming-of-age movie might seem like the oldest subgenre in the European film playbook, but when it's done well, what's not to like? Not every movie has to be au courant, 20-something friendly, packed with postmodern pep and resonating with the latest indie-rock songs.

"My Brother Is an Only Child," an Italian movie set during the 1960s and '70s, centers on Accio (Elio Germano), a plucky force of nature, who walks out on seminary school (the abstinence thing doesn't work for him), then becomes enthralled with the ideology of fascism at an early age. His political belief, and his commitment to it and anything he pursues, causes constant collision with his older, good-looking brother, Manrico (Riccardo Scamarcio), a socialist. Their ongoing love-hate relationship, which lasts from adolescence into early adulthood, is the movie's spine.

Director Daniele Luchetti's movie gives us a real sense of what it means to live out your political beliefs and face the glories and consequences therein. Like virtually every Italian movie, it evokes the sensual, intimate dynamics of family, with Accio battling, hugging, punching and cursing his relatives as an almost daily matter of course. Although the movie never quite dispels the sense of being dated (it could have been made anytime in the past 40 years), it's a memorable, often moving timepiece.

-- Desson Thomson (April 11, 2008)

Contains sexual situations, nudity and profanity. In Italian with subtitles.