Director Bernardo Bertolucci - the once revered mind behind the likes of Last Tango In Paris, Once Upon The Time In The West and The Last Emperor - hasn't sat in the director's chair since 2003's controversial The Dreamers. He has returned to a world of complicated brother and sister relationships with Me & You, but unfortunately hasn't bothered to bring back an interesting story to tell.
We open with teenager Lorenzo (Jacopo Olmo Antinori, an acne-ridden Malcolm McDowell double) in a psychiatrist's office, talking vaguely about some event that will never get mentioned again. He returns home to his loving but exasperated mother, as he seems to get off on constantly pushing her buttons. The rest of his classmates are heading to off on a ski trip, but Lorenzo decides to spend the week hiding in the basement of his apartment building where he can spend some time alone. However, his half-sister Olivia (Tea Falco, who could be Liv Tyler's long lost twin) arrives, and decides she wants to use the basement for the week to help her go cold turkey from her heroin addiction.
This movie is one of inaction, two people who struggle to endure their demons by hopefully working them out of their system, be it Olivia's drug problem or Lorenzo's shyness or borderline OCD. Perhaps due to the incestuous nature of his last feature The Dreamers, but it feels as if Bertolucci injects a sense of queasiness to the burgeoning relationship between these siblings.
The two leads are both stellar, but due to their unlikeable characters, you won't enjoy spending time in their company. Antinori is blessed with great acting abilities, but one of the most punchable faces in recent cinema history. Every time he throws a bratty tantrum, you don't feel sorry for him due to his fractured home-life; you just want to slap him. Falco comes off a little better, a beautiful actress really showing an ugly side during her detox, but again her character's selfishness makes it difficult to care.
The jaunty score, some well used Bowie songs and the warm, fluid camerawork help lift proceedings from the doldrums, but the entire film just feels too slight to matter much.
