Plot Intro
The wealthy Cantone family of rural southern Italy have gathered together when the youngest son, Tommaso (Riccardo Scamarcio) is home from his studies in Rome. Tommaso reveals to his elder brother, Antonio (Alessandro Preziosi) that not only does he not want to follow in the family business of making pasta, but he is also gay and has a boyfriend in Rome. Tommaso intends to tell the family at dinner, and fully expects his brutish, homophobic father, Vincenzo (Ennio Fantastichini) to disown him then and there. But when dinner arrives, another family secret suddenly comes to light which throws Tommaso’s plans right out of the window…
Since we began our monthly delves into the world of foreign-language films, we’ve found that the biggest hits over the years also happen to be the most portentous, cerebral, and, unfortunately, the hardest to watch on a Sunday afternoon when you may well be nursing a hangover. See our reviews of The Seventh Seal, La Dolce Vita and that art-house Czechoslovakian film I can’t remember the name of for evidence of this [Editor: It was Daisies]. So this time, we thought “Screw it!”, let’s dispense with the haughty esotericism of world cinema, let’s ignore the predictable recommendations of Time Out or Empire magazine. Instead, let’s watch something lighter and more accessible, that audiences genuinely enjoy.
Our last Italian film, La Dolce Vita, was very much a film about Italy, its social and political position at the time of the film’s production, and it expressed all this in the sort of long-winded “fringe theatre” manner that you’d expect from a film so worshipped by the critics. Loose Cannons (“Mine Vaganti” in Italian), covers more universal themes of family unity, parenthood, ambition and the conflict between doing what’s right for others and doing what’s right for oneself.
For the most part, its a pretty lovely little comedy-drama. The various characters within the family are varied and well-drawn, even if it took a while for us to work out how they’re related. The domineering patriarch, his wise sees-all-knows-all mother, his dutiful wife, his often-drunk sister, his sardonic eldest daughter and her sycophantic husband, as well as the more traditional elder son and the more thoughtful, ponderous younger son. There’s even a couple of sassy maids and an ambitious but rather reckless consultant for the family firm. It’s a slighter less dark version of Gosford Park, with various interrelated characters all revealing their insecurities and, in some cases, long-hidden secrets as the story progresses.
The stand-out performance for me came from Ilaria Occhini as the typical Italian Grandmother - full of strong-willed kindness, who knows a lot more than her son who desperately tries to maintain control of his business and his family. She may not be head of the family in name, but she certainly is in nature, and her eventual outcome blurs the line between comedy and tragedy very unexpectedly.
Less impressive was Fantastichini as the homophobic father, Vincenzo. He plays him for laughs, and we’re supposed to find his disgust at a photo of his son with another man, and his belief that everyone in town is laughing at him, amusing. Not only is this unrealistic, it doesn’t gel with the lines he is being given. It’s almost as if the actor didn’t want to play a villain when really he should have made his character quite hateful to begin with but soften him as the film goes on to gain eventual redemption and perhaps even forgiveness from the family members he upsets.
Indeed, his acting is just one example of where jokes fall flat. I don’t know whether some of the comedy got lost in translation, or if some scenes just needed a bit more work, but occasionally our reactions weren’t so much laughter, but more like “eh?”. This lets the film down slightly, as being able to laugh at or with characters can help us to empathise with them. But all in all, Loose Cannons is a delightful little film. Okay, it’s not exactly going to win the Palm D’Or at Cannes, and it’s not going to enter Empire’s top 100 international films (and, in all fairness, I’d agree with that decision). But if you like a bit of camp(ish) comedy and sweet-natured family drama, this is right up your street.
Highlight
Tommaso’s group of gay friends who come to visit are a delight. They’re horrendous stereotypes (they wear tight clothing, they love to sing diva songs in the shower, they sass each other, and they fail miserably at trying to come across as heterosexual) but they inject a huge amount of life at a point when the film is starting to lose pace, and quite frankly I’ve seen guys like this out in The Two Brewers many a time.
Lowlight
The presentation of Vincenzo is a pretty pathetic attempt to make homophobia comical. I’m not saying this is not possible, I’m just saying that Ennio Fantastichini is not very good at it.
Mark
7/10
I found this film lurking on some shelves and thought ‘this looks light and approachable’ and so nominated it for a Foreign Film focus, gathering some respite from the often turgid and spirit-dampening ‘greats’ that people usually put forward.
Why is it that in order to be received as truly great, most forms of art insist on utter seriousness? Is it that comedy dates faster than the universal, much mulled over tragic arcs that we see repeated constantly, or is it that all critics are ginormous snobs? Whoopi Goldberg winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Ghost was such a momentous moment, because her genius comic instincts are often lumped in with the ‘enjoyable but not award-worthy’ lot. Anyway, I’m fed up with it. The Best Picture films so often become portentous, overly worthy films that bore one rigid.
I picked this therefore, because it’s a comedy. An Italian piece set in a countryside town, we see multiple members of the same family struggle with coming out as gay in an uber-traditional place, a homophobic father (who Paul rightly sums up as badly acted and badly written, so I shan’t spend any more time on him) and some cracking side characters who pop in and liven up the piece from time to time.
Storywise I wasn’t enamoured - there’s so many stories about men struggling to come out as gay and I just get annoyed. The drama should have moved on by now, we have progressed as a culture and the issues we face are different. I’m bored of seeing people struggling with being gay. I want something more uplifting and more relevan
However where this film does gain some points is in the characters of the grandmother, the mother and the gay friends who are - as Paul says - utter caricatures, but also are - in my opinion - entirely accurate to most homosexuals who live in Clapham. Say what you like, sometimes the caricature isn’t actually wrong.
There’s one terrific scene when the mother and aunt (who has a weird storyline about a lover who visits her at night which I didn’t understand at all) go into town after her son has come out as gay and run away. Following them into a shop is the local busybody who makes some pointed remarks about her own daughter getting married to a man. The mother - who does a good job of struggling between her love for her son and her having to recalibrate who he is in her mind - snaps back with some sassy quips about the daughter being ‘the village bike’. Not particularly PC, but it’s cheering to see someone fight for the innocent gay son.
The best lines are reserved for the grandmother who berates her homophobic son and clearly sees things for what they are. At one point she snaps at him something along the lines of ‘you’re outdated in your own head’, and I couldn’t help but cheer. It’s a lovely, heartening performance and as Paul says, her final scene is one of the few moments the comic-tragic blend works.
Overall, I didn’t rate it very highly, but with the grandma and friends, there were a few laughs and it was still a welcome respite from whatever misery-porn piece the Academy decided was best this year.
Highlight
Any scenes where the gay friends are bitching in their own room is a highlight. They could all be easily found in Soho any night of the week.
Lowlight
A dull story and bad writing means this isn’t particularly noteworthy.
Mark
4/10
4/10
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