Looking For Alibrandi

There's a point early in the movie, where Josie Alibrandi accepts a lift from Jacob Coote. The only car in sight is a panel van and the voice over moans. "A panel van? Oh no! I'm going home with the wrong guy!" She is even more shocked when her lift turns out to be a motorbike.

Josie's mother is Sicilian and a single mother. Josie is in her final year at school, (HSC) on a scholarship at an exclusive Catholic school, and struggling to come to terms with her Sicilian background in suburban Sydney. To add to her problems, the family is cursed, according to her grandmother Nonna Katia. Josie's mother, Christina had fallen pregnant to a boy when she was seventeen. Mr Alibrandi makes a sudden reappearance much to the family's distress.

Josie's heart is torn between John Barton (Michael Gallina) and Jacob. Unlike other love triangles however, there is no pitting of egos and it's possible to cheer both boys on to victory.

The film's opening on 'wog's day' where Josie's relatives are making tomato paste says it all. The cultural cringe plays a strong part in the daily lives of emigrant families all over Australia and the Alibrandi household is no exception.

One thing I liked about the film is that although f

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Personally, I'm against those types of movies, finding them incessantly boring.

John Barton is the school captain of a posh private school.

Michael Andretti is Josie's father, but doesn't appear in Josie's life until she is seventeen. She is a relatively young mother, having had Josie at a young age and bringing her up all on her own, with no contact with Josie's father. It's not an 'in your face' movie but it confronts issues such as teenage suicide and the pressures of exams and sexuality.

Many of the characters in Looking for Alibrandi undergo a search for identity - a journey towards understanding themselves.

Josephine Alibrandi, affectionately known as Josie, is the central character of this novel.

John's dad's a politician, his grandfather was a politician and John feels the pressure to become a politician as well. These mistakes, among other things, affect Josie's decisions regarding her sexuality, including her decision not to sleep with Jacob. Not the movie of the year, but it's a refreshing start to a new millennium.

This main purpose of this is to be a guide for school students studying Looking for Alibrandi.

Nonna Katia is Josie's grandmother. He is a lawyer who previously had worked in Adelaide. His suicide brings Josie and Ivy closer, and is a huge learning step for Josie.

Christina Alibrandi is Josie's mother.

Approximate Word count = 830
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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