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DRAMA/COMEDY MID-AUGUST LUNCH (U) 75min ●●●●●
Hitherto best known for co-writing Gomorrah, 60-year-old Gianni di Gregorio makes his directorial debut with this charming tale, which beautifully illustrates Tolstoy’s dictum that ‘To speak to the world, one should write about one’s village’. The principal setting of Mid-August Lunch is an apartment in the Trastevere district of Rome during a summer holiday weekend. The middle-aged, wine-loving Gianni (di Gregorio himself) lives with his imperious 90-something mother Valeria (Valeria de Franciscis), whom he patiently looks after. This Saturday, however, the building administrator Luigi asks Gianni for a favour: could he take care of his mum Marina (Marina Cacciotti) for 24 hours in return for waiving certain service charges? Marina doesn’t turn up on her own however – she’s with her sister Maria (Maria Cali). And then Gianni’s doctor friend Marcello wonders whether his pal could keep an eye on his mama, Grazia (Grazia Cesarini Sforza).
Theres’s a palpable sense of authenticity to this portrait, created by a combination of the location (a flat that belonged to di Gregorio’s real-life late mother, whom he lived with when she was widowed), the hand-held camerawork, the natural lighting, and the wonderful performances of the predominantly non-professional cast. While acknowledging the vulnerability and loneliness of its elderly characters, di Gregorio celebrates their vitality and playfulness: they bicker and make up, and cheerfully ignore their carer’s suggestions and recommendations. The apron-wearing Gianni is a gentle man whose own ambitions seem to have disappeared, and who appears to muddle through on a day-to-day basis.
Yet what’s refreshing about Mid-August Lunch, and what gives it a political edge in the context of Berlusconi’s meretricious government, is that it celebrates the supposedly ‘simpler’ pleasures in life, such as eating and drinking, companionship, friendship and community. It’s a film that proves that small can indeed be beautiful. (William Thomas) ■ Filmhouse, Edinburgh and selected release from Fri 14 Aug.
ROMANTIC COMEDY FRENCH FILM (15) 87min ●●●●●
Fresh from a spot of miracle working in Ken Loach’s feelgood melodrama Looking for Eric, Eric Cantona returns in this damp squib of a British romantic comedy, the debut feature of Jackie Oudney. He plays Thierry Grimandi, a chain-smoking French auteur, who airily declares in a DVD extra that ‘film is my life and my life is film’, and that ‘love is everything’. Grimandi is due to be interviewed
on-stage at the National Film Theatre by broadsheet journalist Jed (Hugh Bonneville), whose instincts are to dismiss Grimandi’s seemingly pretentious theorising. But Jed’s own personal life is in turmoil: his girlfriend of ten years, Cheryl (Victoria Hamilton), has turned down his marriage proposal, and he’s realising the depth of his feelings towards the girlfriend, Sophie (Anne-Marie Duff), of his best mate Marcus (Douglas Henshall). Scripted by Aschlin Ditta (Scenes of a Sexual Nature), French Film crudely contrasts Gallic attitudes to l’amour – see the excerpts from Grimandi’s mock films – with how ‘we’ Brits, or in this case middle-class late- thirtysomehing North Londoners, muddle through in matters of the heart (of course, the marriage counsellor whom Jed and Cheryl consult is French, and therefore automatically amusing). The filmmakers were apparently inspired by Woody Allen circa Manhattan, yet there’s no real wit or sparkle or cinematic imagination here, and the talented cast can do little with such workmanlike material. (Tom Dawson) ■ Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Thu 13–Sat 15 Aug and selected release.
Reviews Film
ALSO RELEASED A Perfect Getaway (15) 97min ●●●●● Outdoor activity enthusiasts Cliff and Cydney (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich) celebrate their honeymoon by backpacking and hiking to one of the most beautiful, and remote, beaches in Hawaii. When the pair come across a group of frightened hikers they realise that all may not be well in paradise. Commendably pulpy and entertaining B movie horror with an able cast, tight script and sure handed direction from David Pitch Black Twohy. General release from Fri 14 Aug. Imagine That (PG) 106min ●●●●● Family comedy starring Eddie Murphy as a successful financial executive who has more time for his blackberry than his seven-year-old daughter (Yara Shahidi). When he his career falters he finds himself drawn towards his daughter imaginary world. Pedestrian but passably old-fashioned Disney-style recession parable. General release from Fri 14 Aug. The Time Traveler’s Wife (12A) 107min ●●●●● Sturdy adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s best selling novel about a time travelling librarian and the more grounded love of his life, whose life he comes in and out of. Eric Bana and Rachel MacAdams are well cast and Robert Flight Plan Schwentke’s execution of a complicated timeline is admirable, we just wish Bruce Joel Rubin’s screenplay had a bit more oomph and passion to it. General release from Fri 14 Aug. Sin Nombre (15) 95min ●●●●● Fantastic Mexican fusion of gangland thriller and road movie about the loves and tragedies of a group of US bound immigrants from Honduras and Mexico. Compellingly made with great performances, Sin Nombre is really worth checking out. See feature, page 12. Selected release from Fri 14 Aug.
MUSICAL/DRAMA BANDSLAM (PG) 110min ●●●●●
‘This is sick!’ says budding impresario Will Burton (Gaelan Connell) as he constructs a rock’n’roll band from his fellow high school students to take part in a battle-of-the-bands competition. The description ‘sick’, obviously meaning, that his band are quite good, and Todd Graff’s detailed account of the internal creative differences of Will’s band portrays the grimy business of making the devil’s music as the healthiest of pursuits for any youngster.
But Will’s path to being a pop svengali is littered with casualties. His budding relationship with Sa5m (High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgens, returning with a silent 5 in her name) is complicated by flirtation with lead singer Charlotte (Aly Michalka), and there’s also Will’s concerned mother (Lisa Kudrow) and some bullying issues to be addressed over Bandslam’s excessive running time.
Writer/director Graff is ideally placed to provide the same line in teen-like savvy
he brought to 2005’s Camp, making Bandslam refreshingly character-driven, although the music world is presented in the absurdly sanitised way expected from a Walden Media/Disney production. David Bowie features in an unlikely cameo, presumably as a role model to all young people to emulate, minus, of course, the sex, drugs and Tin Machine side-projects. (Eddie Harrison) ■ Out now on selected release. See profile, page 24.
13–20 Aug 2009 THE LIST 23