"My Brilliant Friend - The Story of a New Name" just premiered on HBO this week, and brilliantly at that. The perfect excuse to binge on the series' first season, which premiered in Fall of 2018. At that time, a companion documentary was released.
"My True Brilliant Friend" (2018 release from Italy; 76 min.) aims to give us a behind the scenes look at the making of the first season of "My Brilliant Friend". As the movie opens, we see the two leading stars, 15 yr. old Gaia Girace (playing Lila) and 16 yr. old Margherita Mazzucco (playing Lenu), being interviewed a a film festival. We then go to "One Year Earlier", as these 2 young ladies who have never acted professionally before, are chosen among thousands of wanna-be's and are now getting ready for rehearsals. "I immediately felt a bond", Girace comments, and indeed it is pretty apparent that these two hit it off and enjoy working together. We also see the Italian encourage them to dive into these characters. "Take a vacation from yourself, Margherita", he encourages her. Along the way, we get to know others from this large cast, but the focus remains mostly on Girace and Mazzucco.
This documentary is enjoyable, even if it really isn't essential. Mostly we learn that Girace is more driven than is Mazzucco ("I miss my friends". Ahead of season 2, I binge-watched all 8 episodes of the first season, and can only marvel at the top-notch storytelling demonstrated by the Italian production team. Episode 1 of "The Story of a New Name" picks up exactly where Season 1 left off, and is giving me hop that Season 2 will equally be must-see TV.
"My True Brilliant Friend" (2018 release from Italy; 76 min.) aims to give us a behind the scenes look at the making of the first season of "My Brilliant Friend". As the movie opens, we see the two leading stars, 15 yr. old Gaia Girace (playing Lila) and 16 yr. old Margherita Mazzucco (playing Lenu), being interviewed a a film festival. We then go to "One Year Earlier", as these 2 young ladies who have never acted professionally before, are chosen among thousands of wanna-be's and are now getting ready for rehearsals. "I immediately felt a bond", Girace comments, and indeed it is pretty apparent that these two hit it off and enjoy working together. We also see the Italian encourage them to dive into these characters. "Take a vacation from yourself, Margherita", he encourages her. Along the way, we get to know others from this large cast, but the focus remains mostly on Girace and Mazzucco.
This documentary is enjoyable, even if it really isn't essential. Mostly we learn that Girace is more driven than is Mazzucco ("I miss my friends". Ahead of season 2, I binge-watched all 8 episodes of the first season, and can only marvel at the top-notch storytelling demonstrated by the Italian production team. Episode 1 of "The Story of a New Name" picks up exactly where Season 1 left off, and is giving me hop that Season 2 will equally be must-see TV.