Search: Directed by Paolo Sorrentino

Simply unmissable.

The Family Friend is never less than arresting in its manipulation of mood and expectation

The plot may be straightforward but the characters are offbeat.

Sorrentino dares to tread where the great have gone before and leaves his own distinctive mark.

A continually shifting style, with moments of brilliance and other scenes which feel structurally derivative, threatens to overwhelm the story.

Though the film is slow in places and Andreotti's ambiguity can sometimes leave the viewer feeling too disconnected, there are moments of real brilliance.

It takes real directorial skill to deliver something so shallow across two and a half hours and keep the audience gripped.

The dual plotline never really works. There isn't enough happening in either man's life and the parallels are too obvious.

It's so scattershot that one finds oneself inventing titles for the 'stories' within the anthology.

Funny, moving and endlessly surprising.

The trappings and style more than make up for any lack of substance.