The Best Offer

This 2013 Italian (original title 'La migliore offerta') film tells the story of an older famous and slightly eccentric art auctioneer

Notice the gloves

His collection of paintings before falling in love

falling in love with a much younger mysterious, and agoraphobic, girl.

While it has all the attributes of a romantic love story, it turns out to be quite different, in the end. Beautifully filmed and acted, and surprising (at the end).

Love hurts

Not bad, but not very good either.

☆☆☆

Parenti Serpenti

Also known as Dearest Relations, this is an excellent comedy. The scene is a small Italian town where an old couple receives their grown-up children and grandchildren for the end of year festivities. The film starts as a nice portrait of the local traditions surrounding Christmas etc. The relationships between the siblings, and their partners, are not perfect but that only adds to the charm. As does the fact that the old father is clearly loosing his marbles, which greatly annoys his wife.

Things get nasty when the old mother declares that she and her husband want to live with one of their offspring. This leads to a lively discussion among the children, none of them being keen on welcoming their old parents into their home. All will be resolved in the end, in a most hilarious (and cynical) manner.

☆☆☆☆

Sapore di mare

This film ("Time for Loving" in English) can cause double nostalgia: for the 1960's in which the story is set, and for the 1980's when it was made. The latter is evident to me from how the story is developed, it reminds me of some toe-curling French comedies like "Les Bronzés". There the humor is so bad that it becomes hilarious. So it is with "Sapore di mare": I loved it although it is very mediocre.

The story is about youngsters on holiday in Viareggio on the Tuscan coast and how they enjoy themselves with members of the opposite sex. There are the obligatory stereotypes: an older woman with a nerd, a 'player' from a rich family, a naive and initially innocent girl with a modest background, an experienced English girl (!) etc. Apparently there is a sequel, so it must have been a big success at the time.

☆☆☆

La Grande Bellezza

The english title is The Great Beauty. The beauty here refers to the city of Rome, and probably more specifically its night life. The main character, Jep Gambardella, is a writer who wrote only one book, which was a huge success. After that, he got distracted by the temptations of Rome and became a journalist and society figure who 'knows everyone'. The film consists of several loosely connected little stories, often moving and/or funny involving e.g. a 'saint' nun, modeled on 'mother Teresa', a gastronome cardinal, a midget editor etc. Many scenes play on the terrace of Jep's apartment, overlooking the Colosseum, a fantastic view at night.

One quote that I liked:

.. a friend, every now and again, needs to make their friend feel as a child.

The strong point of the film is the atmosphere it creates. It has been compared with other great movies about Rome, see the wikipedia article. Although, it is not as good as the 'originals', it is well worth watching.

☆☆☆☆

Gianni e le donne

This delightful comedy seems to be a prequel to Pranzo di ferragosto . The main character, Gianni, is the same. Only he's still married and his mother lives in her own home, which she manages to squander without her son getting any say.
The film is mainly about the attempts of the middle-aged Gianni to seduce a young woman, any good looking one. He's been put up to this project by his lawyer friend who seems as desperate as he is. Moreover, he discovers that a far older and fatter acquaintance of his manages to get it off with a voluptuous blonde running a neighborhood shop.
Needless to say, all his attempts come to nothing. The women he tries to woo usually make use of his services (cooking, walking the dog, finding bottles hidden by their daughters, ..) but fail to succumb to his charms.
I found Pranzo di ferragosto slightly more hilarious, but also this movie is well worth watching. ☆☆☆☆

Pranzo di ferragosto

Possibly the best comedy I have seen this year. The English title is the literal translation of the original: Mid August Lunch. Not sure why "lunch" is there but "ferragosto" refers to an ancient festival around thet 15th of August when all self-respecting Romans have fled the heat of the city.

Except those that cannot afford to go, such as the protagonist, the middle aged Gianni, who lives with his ancient (93) mother in an apartment for which they are behind with the rent. A friend is prepared to help them out on the condition that they take in his elderly mother as a lodiger, while the friend is away on amorous business. As a result of some other events, Gianni ends up as the host of four old women.

Not all of them are well-behaved and they cause him a lot of problems. E.g. he has a hard time fighting off the advances of one of them. Admirably, he never looses his temper and I really appreciated how he was able to pamper all of his guests, not in the least with his fantastic cooking.

This was one of those movies that I fondly remember long after I have seen them: ☆☆☆☆☆

Manuale d'amore 3

Also known as "The Ages of Love" was made in 2011.

This romantic comedy features three independent stories about "love", bound together by a cupid offering some brief comments. The first story is the best, it is set in a lovely Italian village and contains some hilarious scenes. The second and third are somewhat related as they concern people living in the same building in central Rome. In the second story, a media personality gets involved with a nymphomaniac and lives to regret it, although probably not for long (the living). The third one illustrates that it is never too late, even after a heart transplant, to team up with a young but experienced woman.

An uncomplicated well made comedy that was a pleasure to watch: ☆☆☆.