MID-AUGUST LUNCH
Directed by Gianni Di Gregorio
Produced by Matteo Garrone
Written by Di Gregorio, based on a story by Di Gregorio & Simone Riccardini
Released by Zeitgeist Films
Italian with English subtitles
Italy. 75 min. Not Rated
With Gianni Di Gregorio, Valeria De Franciscis, Marina Cacciotti, Maria Calì, Grazia Cesarini Sforza, Alfonso Santagata, Marcello Ottolenghi & Luigi Marchetti 
 

Mid-August Lunch is a film engrossed in the whispers of daily life. This subtle Italian comedy—fated to be described as “charming” ad nauseam—is a warm, slow-moving affair from the minds behind the dark crime-drama Gomorrah (2008).

Gianni (Gianni Di Gregorio)—a middle-aged man dedicated to drinking copious quantities of white wine and taking care of his elderly mother—is stuck in late summer Rome, brought to a standstill by fleeing vacationers. Not only does the cash-strapped bachelor have no hope of leaving town, three more old ladies are pawned off on him for the weekend. (Their families gladly pay him for the trouble, and a financially struggling Gianni can’t refuse). His mother, a sun-scorched Italian mama, politely resents the sudden company, and Gianni flutters about the apartment, cooking, soothing hurt feelings, and trying to keep the peace.

Gianni (played by the film’s writer, Gianni Di Gregorio) is less of a character than an adjective: good, doting, responsible. He appeals to the grannies and viewers alike. Catering to their charming brand of geriatric fickleness, Gianni seems more amused than spiteful at his lot. The film is aligned to the writer’s own life, and he plays himself with a certain bemusement about the project, which comes alive in the hands of these four women, none of whom are professional actors.

The mid-august lunch schemed up by the women on the day they must all part is the film’s first variation in pace or excitement. The search for ingredients sends Gianni into the hot, abandoned Roman streets, affording the viewer the only real tour of the city and a much-needed breath of air.

The experience of watching the film will be different for the native and the outsider. For an American, the mannerisms are as fascinating for being universal as they are for their squarely Italian charm. Golden girls the world over mutter complaints and opinions under each delicate breath, and these Signoras are no exception.

Di Gregorio creates a quite reality, free from cinematic romanticism. The women aren’t reduced to a sweet elderly brew. Rome looks hot and dingy; the food is hearty, but just short of tantalizing. The modest project proves that films about being good, kind, and learning to love life in all its quotidian incantations doesn’t need to be overwrought and loud with pathos. In fact, Mid-August Lunch achieves these lofty goals with wry understatement. Yana Litovsky
March 17, 2010