Amanda (Benedetta Porcaroli) is 25. She has no friends and doesn’t really have much of a life. She lives alone in a tiny, dingy room. Refuses to work in the family business, and her only companion is her mother’s middle aged housekeeper Judy. But when her mother tells Judy to stop hanging out with her, so she’ll find some friends her own age and maybe grow up, she’s shocked into going out in search of one.
Her first attempt at finding a boyfriend does not go as she planned. She’s really not very good at reading people and more than a bit odd, even if she is pretty. And though she pursues a guy that would probably have reciprocated if she hadn’t been so obtuse, he ends ups dating a girl that came along for a ride with them. Amanda would be right at home in a Wes Anderson or a Jim Jarmusch film. Her dialogue terse, her look, her own quirky style. The only constant in her life is a horse she visits on a farm that is clearly posted as “private property.”
Her mother tries to get her to reconnect with a childhood playmate, and she’s initially resistant. But then, having nothing better to do, she gives it a go. Turns out old bestie Rebecca hasn’t left her bedroom for a year and she isn’t all that keen on meeting her old friend. But since Amanda doesn’t have anything to do, she camps out outside Rebecca’s bedroom in the hall and waits to be let in. And slowly they come to an understanding and get to be pals, of a sort.
First-time feature writer/director Carolina Cavalli has made a character study unlike any other. Benedetta Porcaroli’s performance as Amanda is a study in small expressions, brash and armored and clueless and searching. She’s immensely watchable and you’d love to know where she goes next. I definitely recommend this one to lovers of the odd-ball flick.