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Gianni daydream! |
What has a gentle Italian movie about a depressed middle
aged man, who looks after his 90 year old mother and three additional old women
in a shabby fourth floor flat in a deserted small town during the mid August
holiday period, and the award winning Gomorrah
(2008) a film about organised crime in Naples? Gianni Di Gregorio the co-screenwriter
of this violent true to life gangster movie is the director, screenwriter,
central character and provider of the previously mentioned shabby fourth floor
flat in 2008s Mid August Lunch.
Gregorio plays Gianni unemployed cash strapped bachelor in his late 50’s whose
vocation in life consists of taking care of his wrinkled but sprightly old
mother. His meagre pleasures consist of smoking, drinking copious amounts of
wine and cooking. Life gets complicated when both the administrator of the
building and his Doctor make it financially worth while for him to look after
their elderly relatives for a short period of time during the August holidays.
This warm genuine film treats the subject of old age sympathetically and
provides us, the audience, with a gently entertaining light-hearted movie.
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Back to real life.... |
The success of his directorial debut made it a lot easier
for Gianni Di Gregorio to finance his follow-up movie The Salt of Life (2011)
again a film that successfully deals with some of life’s small everyday
problems. As in his previous film Gregorio plays a character called Gianni, a
64 year-old retiree who like many people his age has become translucent to
others and has a problem coming to terms with his age and the fact that women no
longer look at him. This frightening realisation came to the director who wrote
his latest story to exorcise and make light of this ‘tragedy’ realising that one
of the only vice’s left to him was voyeurism! But this is only one of Gianni’s
problems! He is part of the first generation to reach retirement age and still
have parents alive therefore there’s constant demands on him from his
aristocratic spendthrift mother (played again by the 95 year-old Valeria de
Franciscis Bendoni) who seems hell bent on disposing of
her sons much needed inheritance; a wife who is more of a patronizing friend
than a romantic partner; a daughter with a slacker
boyfriend whom Gianni unwillingly befriends; and a wild young neighbor who sees
him merely as her dog walker. But our frustrated retiree is determined to ensnare a beautiful
younger woman and romance her on the sun-drenched streets of Trastevere.
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Teresa's slacker boyfriend may not be the right person to advise Gianni on his fitness regime. |
Again we
have a warm and witty portrayal of old age where no matter how polite and
gracious you are, your just not going to pull! The key scene is where Gianni
goes to a bar with his friend and speaks to the attractive lady behind the bar
and gets no response what so ever, not even a smile (its surprising how even a
wee smile from a lady can make the day of a gentlemen of a certain age!) This autobiographical
story takes a lot of things from Di Gregorio’s own life including the his own
daughter Teresa who plays his on screen daughter, the small black dog which is
his own animal and even the filming took place where he used to live.
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A man's best friend is his wild young neighbour's dog. |
A lot of
this films genuine warmth comes from the use of natural lighting and the
non-use of filters, improvisation with the actors encouraged to act out the
sense of the scene rather than a precise script and storyboard. The cast where
chosen for there strong personalities and there likeness to their on screen
characters. The contempory mix of the films soundtrack, which includes a lovely
touch of gypsy music, is used to underscore the sense and feeling of Di
Gregorio’s story. I would certainly
recommend this very agreeable film, if you missed it on its initial release its
now available on DVD.
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Gianni with the 95 year old Valeria de Franciscus who plays his mother. |
Hey!
ReplyDeleteNick from www.cinekatz.com here. Doing some scout work for the LAMB. We're wanting to make an email newsletter for community features as well as a list we're making similar to Sight & Sound's best movies of all time list. Just need an email! Email me at npowe131 at gmail.com