Mid-August Lunch

PëRMBLEDHJE

A minor delight that will enchant anyone with an eye for exquisite detail, an ear for eloquently acerbic dialogue and a fascination with human nature. Gianni Di Gregorio (co-writer of Gomorrah) makes an accomplished directorial debut and also cuts an appealingly tragicomic figure as the impoverished Roman fretting that he has wasted his life caring for his nonagenarian mother (Valeria De Franciscis). His frustrations come to a head over the August public holiday after agreeing to entertain two elderly sisters (Maria Calì and Marina Cacciotti) - relations of his landlord (Alfonso Santagata) - in return for help with the rent. But what he hasn't banked on is his doctor (Marcello Ottolenghi) foisting his dotty mother (Grazia Cesarini Sforza) on him, too. With cinematographer Gian Enrico Bianchi capturing the shabby gentility of the cosily cramped rooms, this semi-improvised comedy pokes gentle fun at Italy's attitudes to family responsibility and its decaying infrastructure. But what makes it so delicate and irresistible is the quaint kookiness of its (mostly non-professional) cast of old dears.