Film Festival 09 - Mid-August Launch
Mid-August Lunch
Pranzo di ferragosto, Italy 2008, 75m
Director: Gianni Di Gregirio
Festivals: Venice, London 2008; New Directors/New Films, San
Francisco 2009
In this unusually delicate Italian comedy Gianni, a happily retired
bachelor in his late 50s finds himself spending the August bank
holiday stuck at home, with his aged mother and three other
assorted old biddies on his hands. Keeping them all happy, on their
meds, on their diets, out of the bars, and warmly disposed to each
other, the poor guy hasn't worked so hard in his life. Veteran
screenwriter and first-time director Gianni Di Gregorio plays
Gianni, and the rest of the cast are non-professionals. (The
average age of the four actresses is 88.) They are naturals. Simply
and without undue comic emphasis, he has much to say that is funny
and true about harried Italian males and their loving, if
conflicted, relationships with their mothers; the minor conniving
underpinning social interaction; and, ultimately, the joys of an
elaborate lunch on a long, hot summer day in Rome. "Small but
utterly charming." - Lee Marshall, Screendaily
In Italian with English subtitles
