Amanda

Amanda, 24, lives mostly isolated and has never had any friends, even if it's the thing she wants the most. Amanda chooses her new mission as to convince her childhood friend to believe that they are still best friends.

"Amanda" (Benedetta Porcaroli) is a rather indulged twenty-something who has no friends and lives a pretty isolated life devoid of any company that isn't from her immediate - and pretty dysfunctional - family. "Sofia" (Monica Nappo) is her mother and suggests that she goes to see "Rebecca" (Galatéa Bellugi) who is the equally lonesome daughter of her friend "Viola" (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) - only this girl hardly ever leaves her room in their rather ugly, fortress-like, concrete home. After a bit of a Mexican stand-off, the two gradually start to re-bond (they were childhood friends) but you just get the feeling that an upset is never far away - for any of them. It's a quirkily enjoyable film this with two strong performances from the girls and a scene-stealing bath tub scenario involving "Sofia" too. It is funny, offering a sort of observational wit rather than a chortle sort of humour and there are a couple of sub-plots - a boyfriend and an horse - just to ease the temperature a little now and again and allow us to recalibrate on the relationship between the girls and, increasingly, the enigmatic "Ann". There's not really a start or an end, it's just a middle we get here and it works because I'm not sure these girls really made much progress. It doesn't need a cinema, it'll work perfectly well on the telly so give it a go.