Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo di ferragosto)

This light Italian comedy has its pulse in another culture but the laughs come from situations viewers will spot within their own families. A bachelor approaching old age has his style seriously cramped as three old ladies move into the house he shares with his elderly mother in Rome. Writer and director Gianni Di Gregorio plumbed his own experience. Realising he needed to find a middle-aged alcoholic who had lived for years with his mother, he cast himself in the lead role. Two of his childhood friends also play themselves.

The film is not strictly scripted but relies on the strengths and vulnerabilities of its four leading ladies, none of them professional actresses, whose quirks give the film its spontaneity and realism. That leaves Gregorio free to point the camera as a documentarian as well as an artisan, often using handheld, the pacing as slow and gentle as an old woman’s shuffle, to heighten the sense of being in the house. It’s a place where friendship, frailty and loss of freedom are keenly felt.

We feel for Gianni’s mother when she feels her space invaded and empathise when lusty Marina heads out for a night of smoking and drinking. Gianni’s burgeoning responsibilities conflict with his tendency toward a rather empty existence, in which he and his best mate spend a lot of time downing wine. Even he can see the funny side in his eventual redemption.

By Rebecca Barry, Flicks.co.nz