Infrequent Coarse Lauguage
Origin: Italy, 2009
Directed and written by: Gianni Di Gregorio
Featuring: Gianni Di Gregorio, Valeria De Franciscis, Marina Cacciotti, Maria Calì, Grazia Cesarini Sforza, Alfonso Santagata, Luigi Marchetti
Language: Italian with subtitles
Running time: 75 minutes
Thoughtful, warm-hearted, and delightfully free of pretence, Mid-August Lunch offers members a light diversion with some surprising depth. This enchanting film in which director and writer Gianni Di Gregorio also stars, offers a simple but mesmerising slice of life in suburban Rome in summer, where his protagonist, Gianni, finds himself at the mercy of the whims of four older women for the mid-August Italian holiday of Ferragosto.
Gianni is a late middle aged bachelor who has always lived with his doting mother. For Gianni, looking after his ninety years old mother is a full time job and there is no time to earn money to pay all the bills. Suddenly there is a shift in the daily routine, when Gianni finds himself looking after three other older women, whose families have gone away for the holiday. Not only are his guests demanding, but they have strong opinions too. This drama is all about the characters and their relationships and we become fascinated by them all. Tempers fray, issues arise as the women become stubborn, impatient, demanding and refuse to comply with the expectations placed on them. It’s a film overflowing with small pleasures.
Remarkably, the elderly women have never acted before and Di Gregorio extracts wonderful, natural performances from them all. Nothing much happens, yet the lives of all the characters change.
Original review by: Louise Keller, Urban Cinefile
Extracted and compiled by: SC Patton