Mid-August Lunch

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. (Source: NZ International Film Festival)

Less