The Goodbye Kiss (2006) User Reviews

Italian Noit at Its Best

[latinese · 9/10 · 23 March 2008]

I am surprised to find such negative comments. The film is one of the best noir films ever made in Italy. Alessio Boni is, as usual, perfect (he was great in La meglio gioventù, but here his performance is outstanding). The director added some ideas that are not in the novel, but the added element fit the plot perfectly. All in all, it's as good as Carlotto's slim novel, and that is probably the best book Carlotto ever wrote. I reckon both Soavi and Boni understood that the trick was the way the protagonist was portrayed: a poisonous snake with a charming appearance. An apparently nice guy who is actually a nasty thug, only interested in money, power--also with a sadistic streak. Not the usual character in Italian cinema, but they managed to make it believable. The final scene, with the protagonist watching the girl's agony is absolutely perfect. There you fully realize what sort of a man he really is. And then you begin to wonder what sort of a world is that which accepts him so readily... which is probably the real point that both the novel and the film want to make.

Great

[stardesert · 10/10 · 12 May 2007]

it's a very great movie. it isn't a typical Italian movie: the screenplay was made by a series of professional writer. You aren't able to understand what will be in the next scene. Movie move on very fast. Also actors was very good. especially Giorgio, the protagonist, is unconventional character: he was a fighter with the dream of revolution, but for him only things important from the beginning to the end of the movie is his freedom, for which he is read to make everything. the co-protagonist have a wonderful smile, is very sweet and pure and falls in love with Giorgio completely.is adorable. there are various sequence of action and Italian and international locations: south America, Paris, Milan, and a series of small Italian town. finally scenes are totally shocked. the director isn't new to great movie , even if his usually work for television drama.music of author is rocking, and soundtrack contains tracks with the same name of movie's title.

It is an awful movie.

[enricochionni · 1/10 · 1 May 2006]

It is an awful movie. It is incredible since the Novel by Massimo Carlotto was so good. Probably Carlotto should have be involved in the screenplay writing to realize a better movie. The only positive point is Michele Placido , great interpretation. I do not understand how a director such as Soavi could make a terrible movie from a very good story. The music is good and the song is beautiful. I am really upset since I love the "noir" and we could have a good chance....... Sorry but I really did not like It, the screenplay has so many problems and some scenes makes you laugh since they are almost ridicule. All the actors except Placido are not as good as we know them. Enrico

Excellent Film..A Must See!

[lizzyreynolds · 10/10 · 19 September 2006]

I had the opportunity to see this film during the New Line Italian Cinema Festival at Lincoln Center over the summer.

I loved the storyline and acting. The music was fabulous too.

All the actors were great. Especially Alessio Boni. He is such a "gem". If only he could come to the US and be the next international star. The range of his acting is monumental. I have had the chance to see his acting in previous films which has made me hooked ever since.

On another note, I did not read the book but after viewing the film, it made me want to run to the nearest Barnes and Nobles and purchase it and also look forward to buying the DVD when it hits the United States.

Arrividerci, Michele, Ciao

[radiobirdma · 3/10 · 19 May 2009]

Once there was a promising Italian director with a nearly perfect hand when it came to splatter fun like "Deliria" (Stage Fright) and who eventually delivered the exquisite, tongue-in-cheek postmodern zombie flick "Dellamorte Dellamore" (Cemetery Man) with Rupert Everett in his perhaps finest leading role. That's fifteen years ago, with Soavi having done lots of TV work in the meantime -- maybe the reason why "Arrividerci amore, ciao", his first big-screen venture after more than a decade, is exactly looking like a professionally executed RAI Uno television assignment. The biggest problem of "Amore" is the script, working moderately, occasionally even quite well for about an hour, after which the story is rapidly mutating from a pretty tight, at intervals hard-hitting crime flick into an extraordinarily boring wife-murder yawn ultimately dissolving into lukewarm air, the end being one of the most awful letdowns in Italian thriller history. It's probably my last Soavi movie: Arrividerci Michele, ciao.

The Best Italian Thriller in Years

[fulvio-1 · 9/10 · 27 February 2006]

No way, Arrivederci Amore Ciao is the best Italian Thriller released in the last 30 years! It's perfect, taken from a very good novel written by Massimo Carlotto, directed by Michele Soavi, who made horror movies like Dellamorte Dellamore(Cemetery Man)and La Chiesa(The Church), this movie takes your attention up from the beginning till the end. There's no hope of redemption in the screenplay, there's no hope of being a better man. The main character, played by Alessio Boni, who is as awful as always in the acting, but absolutely perfect for the role, is a former terrorist that wants to have a respectable middle class life after years of escape in South America. But if he really wants it, he's got to be ready to do everything, to betray the former comrades, to kill everyone! Michele Placido, director of the still good Romanzo Criminale(Crime Novel), in the role of the corrupted cop is incredible, perfect! I repeat: a fantastic movie, terrifying!At the end of it, I saw people desperately crying in the cinema...If you're going to see it, you'll understand why. Welcome Back to the cinema, Michele Soavi!!! This is the real good New Italian Cinema! These(Arrivederci, Romanzo Criminale, Occhi di Cristallo) are the movies Italy has got to show the world! Go and see it now, if you can.

Wow

[edoardonada · 10/10 · 30 October 2020]

Probably one of the best Italian movies of the 2000s, I really can't understand the people who didn't appreciate it

Serious theme - unserious realization

[sedova-darya · 5/10 · 21 January 2014]

Completely so-so. Some parts are nice - music, Alessio Boni, who just CAN'T play bad. But other parts are very strange: it seems that the director himself treated that film non-seriously. Night life, memories about South America, blood, some dialogues - are artificial and lifeless, grotesque. They seem unnatural, although all thoughts of main hero are interesting (perhaps, they were taken strait from the novel). So the serious and even tragic film begin to have some unexpected comic connotation: really, I couldn't help laughing than watching all this "night club things". Feelings of main hero wasn't shown: I see a girl, I want a girl (which is completely normal), but I do not want to sleep with her, I want her to love me (why? of course, the hero has some reason, but nobody show us what it is). Very strange feeling...