KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: * * *
Veteran Italian producer and director Avati's 31st film is a diverting, if insubstantial, drama distinguished by some nice touches and a bitter-sweet performance by comic Albanese is in the main role of Giordano.
In a rubble-strewn and economically chaotic post-war Italy, he lives with two maiden aunts in the backward but largely intact Puglia (the heel of the boot), where he spends his days finding and detonating unexploded ordnance in the field. In these opening sequences, clad in steel breastplate, helmet and goggles and "fishing" for bombs with a heavy magnet, he cuts a Felliniesque figure - not least because shock treatment for depression has left him a couple of olives short of a pizza. But Avati's cinematic style is more middle of the road than that. What he's created is a comedy-drama in which post-war family reunification brings danger, not joy.
The long-lost family in question is Lilliana (played by noted soprano Ricciarelli), once Giordano's childhood sweetheart and now his brother's widow. She and her wide-boy son Nino (Marcore) are seeking refuge from bombed-out Bologna. Giordano, sensing the chance of romantic bliss at last, is happy to oblige; his aunts are horrified; and Nino has an agenda all his own.
At moments the film seems about to say something serious. Insanity is a recurring motif - Giordano remains close to a profoundly handicapped mate from the asylum and there is an electrifying moment as a teacher, driven crazy by the defeat of his "beloved" Mussolini, sits in a roofless classroom inspecting a map of a country as ruined as his mind. But Avati quickly turns away from these dystopic visions to make a more palatable entertainment. In its confidence that love conquers all, it's nostalgic if not downright sentimental, but not without charm.
Cast: Antonio Albanese, Neri Marcore, Katia Ricciarelli, Angela Luce, Marisa Merlini
Director: Pupi Avati
Running time: 110 mins
Rating: M (offensive language, sexual references)
Screening: Rialto
Verdict: Nostalgic story set in post-war Italy of a simpleton whose life is disrupted by the appearance of an old flame.
