My Name Is Tanino

Plot synopsis:
Gaetano Mendollia, nicknamed Tanino, is a native of the fictional Castelluzzo del Golfo, a small, Sicilian, seaside resort in the province of Trapani. He studies cinematography in Rome and dreams of becoming a movie director.
He meets Sally, an American girl vacationing in Italy, with whom he has a brief romance. At the end of her vacation, Sally returns to the fictional Seaport, Rhode Island but forgets her camera in Italy. Tanino decides to travel to the US with the pretext of returning Sally's camera to her but also to avoid Italian military service. He leaves at night without telling anyone.
After arriving in America, Tanino has a series of adventures with the somewhat shady Li Cause family, Italian-Americans living in the US. Eventually he leaves them and finally meets up with Sally and her "perfect" White Anglo-Saxon Protestant family, confounding them with his antics.
Later, Tanino escapes the clutches of the FBI by riding on the roof of a train and arrives in New York City where he meets his idol, director Seymour Chinawsky. However Chinawsky is reduced to poverty and dies soon after promising to make a film with Tanino.
Despite Tanino's many misadventures, he always comes out on top because of his ingenuity.

Tags: romantic

Review:
A fantastic journey through an hilarious gallery of portraits, a weird and funny movie, an amazing mix of comedy, coming of age, on the road...
Wonderful Rachel Mc Adams (starring in Mean Girls) in the ironic role of a sweet melancholic and sexy wasp Icon!.
Amazing Tanino, a silly and romantic hero in the Art of the Escape!.
Amazing Tanino, a silly and romantic hero in the Art of the Escape!.
A young, clue-free Italian finds and eludes trouble on numerous occasions as he journeys to and through America in director Paolo Virzi's 2001 comedy My Name Is Tanino.
A young, clue-free Italian finds and eludes trouble on numerous occasions as he journeys to and through America in director Paolo Virzi's 2001 comedy My Name Is Tanino.
Naïve optimist Tanino (Corrado Fortuna) gets romantically involved with an American tourist named Sally (Rachel McAdams), who happens to visit his hometown one fateful summer.
Naïve optimist Tanino (Corrado Fortuna) gets romantically involved with an American tourist named Sally (Rachel McAdams), who happens to visit his hometown one fateful summer.
After Sally's vacation ends, Tanino decides to follow her to the U.S.
After Sally's vacation ends, Tanino decides to follow her to the U.S.
-- not realizing that Sally's interest in him ended when her vacation ended.
-- not realizing that Sally's interest in him ended when her vacation ended.
Upon arriving in America...
Upon arriving in America...
A fantastic journey through an hilarious gallery of American portraits, a eird and funny movie, an amazing mix of comedy, coming of age, on the road...
Wonderful Rachel Mc Adams (starring in Mean Girls) in the ironic role of a sweet melancolic and sexy wasp Icon!.
Italy and America, young and old,thriller and comic, this film has it all!.
You could say this film is about a young Italian in America constantly running away from difficult situations,or you could say it is about youth and growing up by confronting ideals with reality.
But it also shows different lifestyles, (the average well to do American family, the Italian large family, the impoverished artist).
The performances are good quality, helped by an on the spot casting for example corrado fortuna's (he plays the main character) expressions are quite hilarious or even just his out of place presence create a comic outcome.
Of course it is even funnier if you are or have been in contact with Italian culture (and i mean not just from films and TV!), especially from the south, otherwise Castelluzzo,the town from where the main character comes from, might remind you of any little village where everyone knows everyone and everything about everyone.
There isn't specifically a plot but you could describe it as the comic adventures of a young Italian in America but that might make it sound like a kids book.Alltoghether it is a memorable simple little film that you will probably enjoy..
The best foreign film ever!!!!.
I am known for hating foreign films, never wanting to give them a chance.
But when I visited Italy this summer with my mother and sister, I figured I had to watch a movie there just to say I did.
And I am so happy I did!
It was the best movie ever!
Even though I don't speak Italian, I do speak Spanish so I understood the whole movie pretty much (there were no subtitles).
I recommend this movie to EVERYONE!!!!.
Best Comedy That I've Seen This Year!!!
Best Comedy That I've Seen This Year!!!
This is a story a little Italian, a little American, dedicated to the dreams of young people.
The cast and crew did a wonderful job..
Funny and a must for all Americans loving Italy.
At a first see, My name is Tanino is a funny, well-directed and well-acted comedy (things that are not at all a given in the recent, mediocre Italian cinematography).
But it's also a (extremely light) description of the not always easy relationship between Europe (and, in particular, Italy) and US; I mean the ambivalent view of admiration and suspicion toward each other.
And if, to an American viewer, the depiction of the typical WASP family and of the typical italo-American family may be a bit stereotyped, the character of Tanino is quite different from Italians you see in movie and TV-show from the States (like the infamous Paolo from Friends...).
My name is Tanino could also be a drive to the foreigner to discover other Virzì's movies, like Ovosodo...
I don't know if it was ever subtitled, though..
Fantastic foreign film - a must see..
May contain spoilers:This movie is an incredible watch.
I recommend it to anyone who likes foreign films at all.
I don't how the subtitles are because I watched it in Italian, but there are enough English-speaking characters that add to the hilarious plot development of the film.
It is well done and contains a mix of both languages that accurately portrays both the difficulties of Americans in Italy and Italians in America.
Of course, this leads to many, many comic situations and the result is quite humourous.The only downside is the lack of an ending.
That is to say, there is no tying up of loose ends or anything like that at the end, but that doesn't detract from the movie itself much at all.
I am too used to American cinema in which everything wraps up nicely upon completion.
The ending that this movie has is much more realistic than some fantasy-fiction that Hollywood could toss together ...
yet at the same time it is far-fetched and and fantastic as well.Another slight detractor are the random flashback scenes that Tanino has during his fainting spells.
Most of them remain unresolved and I have no idea what they were all about ...
they didn't make a whole lot of sense.
But at the same time, the weren't awful and the movie seemed to flow uninterrupted afterwards.
I suppose they were a good means of transition at certain points.If you have any slight interest in modern foreign films, this is a great choice.
It is bi-lingual enough to catch the drift of the film without subtitles but I'm sure if there is a DVD version it will have subtitles for those who can't grasp the Italian.
It is enjoyable and a genuine good time, so enjoy it with your friends.