I like to think of myself as a diverse movie viewer. I can watch a horror movie, then turn right back around and watch a period drama, followed by a screwball comedy. But there are some genres that I just really get a kick out of. Well-done, inspirational romantic comedies are one. I love movies like "Amelie" and, yes, even "Under the Tuscan Sun" that are light and fun and leave you feeling great. "Agata and the Storm" is one of these movies. Something like a hybrid of "Amelie" and "Waiting to Exhale," it had me grinning from beginning to end.
The movie centers on the life, relationships and adventures of Agata, a forty-ish bookstore owner in Genoa with a strange ability to make electricity go haywire when she gets emotional. She's seeing Nico, a married man about half her age. Her brother Gustavo recently discovered he was adopted as an infant and appears to have abandoned his family and successful architecture career to find himself and hang out with his biological brother Romeo and his wife. It's all a bit complicated, but oddly enough the varied plot lines all work out. As we get to know Agata and her family, we become more involved and turly begin to care about these sweet, unique and utterly human characters. Romeo's dream of owning a trout farm, Gustavo's search for his father and his true identity and Agata's relationship issues all become terribly involving and engaging the longer the film goes on.
Most importantly, "Agata and the Storm" has a great playful sense about it. Even the film's dramatic moments (and there are quite a few) aren't much of a downer. The movie, like Agata's spirit, moves on the happy parts of the characters' lives. Everything from the colorful visuals to the characters' quirks to the film's music is very entertaining and lighthearted.
That isn't to say that there aren't a few problems. There's an awful lot of infidelity going on in the film, and nobody seems to make a big deal out of it. Romeo, especially, seems to have serious problems remaining faithful to his wife, Daria, but when pressed by Agata he states that he knows he's got a problem but brushes it off, saying "I am what I am." Another plotline, involving Agata's estranged 20-year-old daughter, is never resolved, nor really even followed. It would be interesting to see what Agata's daughter would be like, or what she thinks of her mother having an affair with a man 13 years her junior.
Overall, however, "Agata and the Storm" is good watching. It's the kind of movie you can sit down to watch with your girlfriends and a bowl of fresh popcorn. Or, for that matter, a pint of Ben and Jerry's. It's romantic escapism of the best kind: the kind that wraps you up like a warm blanket and makes you feel like running out into the street afterwards and hugging everyone you meet.