Product Description

While vacationing on the Greek Isle of Love, a repressed 30 year old Stefania reluctantly plays chaperon to her precocious 14 year old niece, Meggy, who plans to lose her virginity before the summer is over. Unbeknownst to Stefania, Meggy's chosen man is Stefania's ex-boyfriend. Amidst a mélange of sun rash, broken diets, nervous girls, sleeping bags, orgasms, 80's music, and a little ginger and cinnamon, the two women discover themselves and their sexuality.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48419 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-01-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
• Original language: Italian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 82 minutes

Customer Reviews

Zenzero & Cannella
Ginger and Cinnamon, Dillo con Parole Mie (`Say it in my words') in its Italian version, is entertaining in its dialogue and acting. The storyline is a little drab and predictable if you catch on to what has happened early on, somethat that I admit I failed to understand the first time I watched it. The film is set on the Greek Island of Ios, which is depicted in the same light as MTV's Cancun spring break minus the wet t-shirt contests. Teens and twenty-somethings wander around aimlessly, drink beer for breakfast and have lots of alfresco sex. The movie revolves around the break-up of Stefania and Andrea and the mission-like will of Stefania's niece to lose her virginity at age 14. The sex scenes are mild and show no human flesh beyond what can be seen publicly at any beach.

One unique addition to the film is a series of "reality freezes" in which the director shows groups of actual youth on holiday on the Greek islands. They identify themselves by first name and host city and country. The portrayal of the British kids is all too accurate, and while the pictures often show the youth passed out at 10 AM near a bottle of booze, there is something greater about the international unity that exists on the islands. Even if Brazil and the US have sour diplomatic relations, their youth are still partying hard and together in the Isles of Love.

I recommend this film for a college-level Italian language course. The language is modern and the content entertaining, even profound on some levels. There is a lot of sexual content, however, though nothing to which a typical college student is already inured.

Note on language: Andrea, or `Anea,' uses the word `mo' a couple of times in the film. `Mo' means `adesso' (in modern Italian) or `now' (in English) and is used in a number of Southern dialects.

A brief description in Italian from Yahoo! Cinema Italia:
"Che estate terribile quella che si prospetta per Stefania e Megghy, rispettivamente zia e nipote. Stefania, trentenne, è stata appena lasciata dal suo compagno; la sedicenne Megghy, invece, ha appena perso l'occasione per trascorrere le vacanze con i suoi amici. Entrambe sole, decidono di partire per qualche giorno di relax in Grecia. Ma il destino decide di giocare un brutto tiro: sull'isola di Ios, infatti, Stefania incontra il suo ex Andrea mentre Megghy ritrova i suoi amici."

Romance, like Ginger & Cinnamon, is the Spice of Life.
I recently saw this delightfully quirky, Italian "comedy-of-errors" on The Sundance Channel. Ginger and Cinnamon (Dillo con parole mie, which translates as, "Say it with my Words") tells the story of a 14-year-old girl, Megghy (Martina Merlino), determined to lose her virginity to her 30-year-old aunt Stefania's (Stefania Montorsi) ex-boyfriend, Andreas (Giampaolo Morelli), while vacationing on the Ios Island in Greece. Through their series of misadventures, whereas Megghy ultimately discovers what it means to be a woman, her aunt Stefania loses the inhibitions of that come with her maturity. There are five good reasons to experience this rare film:

1. The beautiful Mediterannean scenery;

2. The insightful relationship dialogue;

3. The eclectic soundtrack, which features songs by Culture Club, The Village People, Ali Farka Touré, and Real World artists like Pina, Temple of Sound, and Los de Abajo;

4. The fun musical sequence between Stefania Montorsi and Giampaolo Morelli on the bus; and

5. The unpredictable plot twists, scene changes, and misadventures that make up the film.

G. Merritt

"Ginger & Cinnamon" [or, "Dillo Con Parole Mio"]
I rented this movie from the foreign section of my local library. The title intrigued me, as did the desription from the back of the DVD case [which is posted as the Amazon description]. The film follows Stefania [a 30-something who recently broke up with her boyfriend of 8 years, Andrea] and her niece Martina [aka Meggy, a sexually precocious 15 year old] to Ios, the Greek Isle of Love, where they have a hilarious and irreplicable experience. I absolutely loved this movie. It was heartwarming, and VERY funny. It is definitely next on my "to buy" list!