Movie Review: Mid-August Lunch(Pranzo Di Ferragosto)

Italian Delights
For italophiles, this film is a treat! Absent are the sensuous actors, lush landscapes of Tuscany,and coastside fishing villages of traditional films. Here we find a Roman condo(or any condo) and its two inhabitants: aging Mamma and doting, unemployed, unmarried son. Life has not been easy of late for either of them, but, they're getting by. Now, it is mid- summer, the City is empty, its residents fleeing the heat for the coast, either one.
By simply squeezing the son, a few acquaintances coerce him into accepting their own mothers as house guests while they join the hoards at the coasts. Within a few hours, the condo is now the temporary home of 3 more aging Mammas. Their personal interactions, their individual characters, and their angst and humor are artfully followed by hand held cameras as they adjust to their new surroundings.
As one who was raised with grandparents close at hand, it is an easy reach to the empathy position with the son: it is a duty to be there, despite the difficulties coupled with aging. We know them-physical deterioration, forgetfulness, selective memory,confusion, and often pain.
Director Di Gregorio is called by some an advocate of Neo-realism. But I believe his style and others like it are in the van of changes brought by, what else? technology! With video capabilities in almost every electronic gadget, and everyone a man w/ camera, films will undergo rapid, dynamic change. Couple this with the popularity of reality entertainment and we have the making of a new age of film.
The characters in the film: Valeria de Franciscis, Marina Cacciotti, and Maria Cali are all untrained performers. Shortly after production started, Di Gregorio threw away the script and did an adlib, with the women making the most of it. Humorous, touching, and sympathetic, the film warms the heart, treats the eyes, and brings a smile to one's face.