This wonderful Italian epic made by HBO was a huge hit in Italy but remains little-known elsewhere. It’s based on four famous books that tell the coming-of-age story of two brilliant girls who grow up in a poor suburb on Naples in the 1950s. It also has scenes from the current time where one of them mysteriously disappears. Amazing production value, acting, and story make this show so easy to get hooked to.
"My Brilliant Friend is often at its best when it invokes this same crisis of knowledge, of growing up where everyone knows your business and no one can admit the truth. It's about the escape hatch that clever girls squeeze through."
— Emily Nussbaum
"My Brilliant Friend is a work of quiet confidence."
— Matt Zoller Seitz
When the most important friend in her life seems to have disappeared without a trace, Elena Greco, a now-elderly woman immersed in a house full of books, turns on her computer and starts writing the story of their friendship.
Venice
1 nomination
