mid-august lunch (pranzo di ferragosto) 2008 region free dvd5 italian bcbc

Mid-August Lunch (originally released as Pranzo di ferragosto) is a 2008 Italian comedy-drama and the directorial debut of Italian actor and screenwriter Gianni Di Gregorio. It was produced by Italian writer-director Matteo Garrone whose 2008 film Gomorrah was co-written by Di Gregorio.

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Plot

Gianni (Gianni Di Gregorio), a broken man with mounting condo debts, is forced to entertain his 93-year-old mother and three other feisty women during Italy’s biggest summer holiday, Ferragosto. The other women include the mothers of his landlord and doctor, who will forgive his debts in exchange for his service.



Awards and nominations

The film won the Grand Prix Award and the Audience Award at the International Film Festival Bratislava, and also won the FIPRESCI Award. It was awarded the "Luigi De Laurentiis" Award for a First Feature Film at the 65th Venice Film Festival in 2008. Additionally, it won awards at several other film festivals including the David Di Donatello Awards, the Satyajit Ray Award at the London Film Festival, and the Golden Snail award at the Academy of Food and Film in Bologna.



Cast

Gianni Di Gregorio, Valeria de Franciscis, Maria Cali, Grazia Cesarini Sforza, Marina Cacciotti, Alfonso Santagata



Review: A very Italian 'Mid-August Lunch'

By Mick LaSalle

Friday, April 23, 2010

From its first minutes, "Mid-August Lunch" establishes a special tone and quality that could only be Italian. It's a mixture of warmth and gentle farce, tender observation and absurdity.



A man who appears to be in his late 50s cares for his very elderly mother, and it's clear from the first minutes that he's an exemplary son but also something of a likable good-for-nothing when it comes to paying bills and making a living. In a similar way, the old ladies who become the focus of the film are comically idiosyncratic, and yet you'd have trouble finding another movie with such unforced appreciation of its elderly characters or such intelligent understanding of old age.



Gianni Di Gregorio, who has worked off and on in the Italian film industry since the 1980s, usually as a screenwriter, made this film at 58 - his first as a director. He also chose to star in it, even though he has never headlined a movie, and this is only his second screen credit. To make things seemingly more difficult, he hired a cast of non-professionals. And yet, from the subtlety of the humor and the specificity of the vision, you'd think that Di Gregorio has been writing and directing his own movies for 20 years.



In Italy, this film is called "Pranzo di ferragosto," a title that doesn't quite translate into English, any more than "Fourth of July Barbecue" would translate into Italian. Ferragosto is a huge Italian holiday (Aug. 15), which has been celebrated since the time of Augustus Caesar. Businesses shut down, and everyone goes away to the countryside or to the beach.



But Gianni (Di Gregorio), who owes money to everybody, is stuck in Rome with his mother (Valeria De Franciscis) for the holiday. And because he's in no position to say no, he agrees to watch the property manager's mother, Marina (Marina Cacciotti), for the weekend, and Marina brings Aunt Maria (Maria Cali) with her. Later, Gianni's doctor barters a house call in exchange for letting his mother, Grazia (Grazia Cesarini Sforza), stay at the condo. So Gianni finds himself caring for four women, each a strong personality with particular needs.



Lurking underneath the surface of "Mid-August Lunch" is a touch of sadness that these vivid ladies are getting dumped by their families. Yet this is submerged by the ways in which the women overcome personality differences to forge their own relationships and make their own celebration. Watching them, you'd think they were experienced farceurs, and yet this is the first time any of them have appeared onscreen.



There's a lot going on in this little gem. There are observations about Italian men and their mothers, about the comic ironies of life and about the needs of old age - all of it filtered through a warm, humane consciousness. Di Gregorio may be a late bloomer, but he's found his calling.