Canada: Friday, August 07, 2020
Calgary: Friday, August 14, 2020
IFC Films
for language
http://www.ifcfilms.com/films/made-in-italy
Bohemian London artist Robert, returns to Italy with his estranged son Jack to make a quick sale of the house they inherited from his late wife. Neither expects to find the once beautiful villa in such a state of disrepair. Renovations go badly, with father and son soon finding themselves at odds. Robert's comical lack of DIY experience leads him to seek help from some colourful locals. As Robert and Jack painstakingly restore the villa to its previous glory, they also start to mend their relationship. The future may now look quite different and surprise them both.
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Gregory M. - Rated it 3 out of 5
"Made In Italy" "Made In Italy" is a heart-warming father son story set in glorious 'Tuscany' about bohemian London artist Robert (Liam Neeson), who returns to Italy with his estranged son Jack (Micheál Richardson) to make a quick sale of the house they inherited from his late wife. Neither expects to find the once beautiful villa in such a state of disrepair. Renovations go badly, with father and son soon finding themselves at odds. Robert’s comical lack of 'DIY' experience leads him to seek help from some colourful locals including the no nonsense Kate (Lindsay Duncan), an ex-pat making her living selling villas who quickly captures his attention. For Jack, the state of the house seems to mirror his search for memories of happier times with his mother. He soon falls for Natalia (Valeria Bilello), a vivacious young 'Italian' chef, who restores both body and soul with delights from her local trattoria, until the pair find their developing relationship in jeopardy from Natalia’s jealous and threatening ex-husband Luigi (Marco Quaglia). As Robert and Jack painstakingly restore the villa to it's previous glory, they also start to mend their relationship. The future may now look quite different and surprise them both. When the film opens, it's so close to us and just kind of weird how it comes into our lives at the time it did. It's been 10 years since Mum passed and we think coming from somebody who's lost a parent at a young age. There's a line in the film where dad says, 'Nobody knows how to do this”. We don't think anybody does but when you experience something like that a lot of the time you shut down, stuff it in, which isn't the way we think you should grieve. You've to let it out, you've to cry, you can't push them out of your memory in any way and that's kind of what we've done as we're sure many people have done. So this process has been chipping away at parts of us that we kind of locked down. The characters have gone through many iterations, but at the heart of it we always envisioned a love story between father and son. Placing them in a foreign location that harboured both secrets and memories for them, the film uses that to our advantage in terms of cracking open the hard shells of these two stubborn characters. The glorious 'Tuscan' location might help melt away the build-up of resentments they’d accumulated; to reveal their true love for each other. There's a lot of humour in the film. If the audience feels comfortable, then they’ll feel more at ease when we lead them into the harder, more emotional sequences of the film. It's a hopeful film. The audience feels good about themselves and life when they leave the cinema. There's also a strong sense of 'Dunkirk' spirit about staying on track and getting the shoot done on schedule, which feels quite exhilarating when we look at these characters. Finding the bricks and mortar of a house is of course harder than you think. It's a great story about family and love. And compassion and loss, and humour. It's very cathartic in dealing with our own grief. And to do that through one's art, i.e. making film, is very, very unique and special. written by Gregory Mann