Monday, May 24, 2010

Mid-August Lunch

It has been a long time since I have seen a great foreign film. I laughed. I enjoyed every moment. How refreshing. The characters are all so real. This Italian film does it all right.

Unfortunately the film is playing at the Royal. This is my favorite cinema in town. The seats are comfortable. All the films are of top quality. I could safely go to any film shown here without knowing anything about the film. The theatre is used for editing films during the week. The theatre is only available in the evening and for one showing on the weekend. The films don’t stay too long. If you get a chance to see this film, run do not walk. Hopefully it will move to a more central theatre and be made more available during the day.

Gianni is the most ‘delicious’ man. By the way Gianni Di Gregorio is the actor, writer and director. He is outstanding. He looks after his aging mother. She is quite a character. The lines and wrinkles in her face are numerous. She wears a wig like hair do that is quite ridiculous and her lipstick is often fiery red. She looks like a caricature. Gianni is so good to his mother. He reads to her in the evening and prepares wonderful meals. The problem is his financial situation.

His landlord offers a way for him to pay his rent. The landlord asks him to take his mother into his apartment while he vacations. Not only has the mother arrived. An aunt also becomes installed in the house. Gianni makes them all welcome. He cooks for them and makes sure they all have their numerous pills.

A third guest also is delivered to his apartment. Gianni makes the best of the situation and it lends itself to comedy and great entertainment.

This is so obviously a foreign film. Why can’t the Americans make films like this?

There was nothing complicated. It didn’t require any thought. You simply spend 75 minutes with a group of characters. It is such fun. Of course there were English sub-titles but I loved listening to the Italian. The Royal Cinema has done it again.

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