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Nuovomondo or The Golden Door, written and directed by Emanuele Crialese, is a film about Sicilian peasants emigrating to America. It’s received almost universal acclaim, but for me, the movie jarred and bored alternately.

Talk about stereotypes! The Sicilians were portrayed as ignorant, superstitious simpletons permanently coated in a thick layer of grime. The film opens with two of the characters scrambling barefoot up a rocky scree, carrying rocks in their mouths. They were small enough to fit in a pocket or shoulder bag, but no, they have to cut their mouths transporting them in this unnecessarily troublesome way.
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Went to see The Lives of Others recently. Atmospheric and evocative, but a bit slow, over-long. The greatest fault was in the screenplay spelling out every single plot element so that even the dimmest cinemagoer could not fail to understand what was going on, and who did what. Too rounded at the end as well.