Dir: Gianni di Gregorio
Italian with English sub-titles
Barbican Cinema 15 August 2011
Nothing much happened in this meandering but rather charming film about a middle-aged Italian, Gianni, forced into early retirement and surrounded by active, assertive women - his working wife, his casually self-centred daughter, his lively, vivacious but completely barmy 96 year old mother, his gorgeous downstairs neighbour, and a whole slew of attractive women who inadvertently flaunt themselves before him. Gently amusing in many ways, the film showed Rome off to great effect - its beauty and vitality, its gardens and mature trees casting a lovely shade in the glowing Mediterranean climate. Gianni's patience and forbearance in dealing with all the demands on him, reasonable, unreasonable and totally outrageous (like a summons from his mother to drive across Rome in order to push in the slightly loose plug of her TV aerial!) raised both a smile and an eyebrow.
All the characters had the same names as the actors playing them, including Gianni. Director Gianni di Gregorio made sure he got exactly the performance he wanted by casting himself in the lead role!
A pleasant enough way to while away a couple of hours, especially in the company of good friends. But....and there is a but....not quite enough happened to sustain interest throughout.
SB
No comments:
Post a Comment