MADE IN ITALY
**
Director: James D’Arcy
Screenwriter: James D’Arcy
Principal cast:
Liam Neeson
Micheál Richardson
Valeria Bilello
Lindsay Duncan
Yolanda Kettle
Gian Marco Tavani
Country: UK/Italy
Classification: M
Runtime: 120 mins.
Australian release date: 13 August 2020.
Billed as a heart-warming comedy, Made In Italy is the directorial debut of English actor James D’Arcy, who also wrote the screenplay (you’ll recognise D’Arcy if you see a pic of him - he’s done a lot of TV and cinema work, often in key supporting roles). Set in London and the picturesque village of Montalcino, Tuscany, the film has a solid cast headed by Liam Neeson, who plays an artist, Robert (still grieving after the death of his wife in a car accident many years ago), and his real-life son, Micheál Richardson, who plays Robert’s son Jack. The script is something of a curiosity when you consider the parallels in real-life with the premature death of Neeson’s wife and Micheál’s mother, Natasha Richardson, also in tragic circumstances. When asked about this aspect of the film, Neeson basically denied any similarity to his life, telling The Sydney Morning Herald that, “No, I thought it would be terrific for myself and my son to do. There were some lovely emotions in [the script] that I knew I would be able to access; let’s put it that way.”
Jack and Ruth (Yolanda Kettle) are in the throes of a divorce when Jack learns that the London art gallery he runs, which is owned by Ruth’s family, is going to be sold. Desperate to keep it, he contacts his estranged father, Robert, and suggests they make a road trip to Italy with a view to fixing up and selling the abandoned Tuscan villa they inherited from his Italian mother, Raffaella (Helena Antonio). It is apparent from the get-go that the father and son have not been close for some years and there is an air of unfamiliarity between them which makes for many awkward moments. When they arrive at the villa, Jack is horrified to see that the house is going to need a lot more than a lick of paint before it goes to market. Robert appears distracted and disconnected and Jack is frustrated by his apathy. One night, in fury and frustration, he heads in to the hill-top village and dines at a trattoria run by local beauty, Natalia (Valeria Bilello). The couple hit it off and, in the coming days, she inadvertently becomes the liaison between father and son. The other significant female role in Made In Italy is the estate agent, Kate (Lindsay Duncan), an English expat living in the area. She is pragmatic and sees the potential of the property but also the hard work needed to make a successful sale. In the process of the renovation, along with the dust, memories are disturbed and the truth behind Robert and Jack’s years of non-communication are revealed.
Made In Italy may attract an audience interested in seeing Liam Neeson playing a softer role than his ‘hard man’ characters of recent years and will definitely appeal to lovers of Italy, who will be more than happy to wallow in the beauty of the locations (the palazzo is stunning). These things are not enough to save the film, however. D’Arcy’s inexperience behind the camera shows and his direction is mostly ‘by the numbers’. It’s pedestrian and his script is too polite, never really getting its teeth into the men’s grief, the reason why the pair have been unable to get on. Even the burgeoning romance between Jack and Natalia is bloodless and coy, more English than Latin, shall we say. In his desire to keep the story light, D’Arcy has regrettably removed all the passion from his characters. There are a couple of scenes that almost get your pulse racing but they are few and far between, the distractingly light banter keeping us from what could have been a more convincing film. At the end of the day, there are just not enough laughs or enjoyable moments on this trip to bella Italia.
Screenwriter: James D’Arcy
Principal cast:
Liam Neeson
Micheál Richardson
Valeria Bilello
Lindsay Duncan
Yolanda Kettle
Gian Marco Tavani
Country: UK/Italy
Classification: M
Runtime: 120 mins.
Australian release date: 13 August 2020.
Billed as a heart-warming comedy, Made In Italy is the directorial debut of English actor James D’Arcy, who also wrote the screenplay (you’ll recognise D’Arcy if you see a pic of him - he’s done a lot of TV and cinema work, often in key supporting roles). Set in London and the picturesque village of Montalcino, Tuscany, the film has a solid cast headed by Liam Neeson, who plays an artist, Robert (still grieving after the death of his wife in a car accident many years ago), and his real-life son, Micheál Richardson, who plays Robert’s son Jack. The script is something of a curiosity when you consider the parallels in real-life with the premature death of Neeson’s wife and Micheál’s mother, Natasha Richardson, also in tragic circumstances. When asked about this aspect of the film, Neeson basically denied any similarity to his life, telling The Sydney Morning Herald that, “No, I thought it would be terrific for myself and my son to do. There were some lovely emotions in [the script] that I knew I would be able to access; let’s put it that way.”
Jack and Ruth (Yolanda Kettle) are in the throes of a divorce when Jack learns that the London art gallery he runs, which is owned by Ruth’s family, is going to be sold. Desperate to keep it, he contacts his estranged father, Robert, and suggests they make a road trip to Italy with a view to fixing up and selling the abandoned Tuscan villa they inherited from his Italian mother, Raffaella (Helena Antonio). It is apparent from the get-go that the father and son have not been close for some years and there is an air of unfamiliarity between them which makes for many awkward moments. When they arrive at the villa, Jack is horrified to see that the house is going to need a lot more than a lick of paint before it goes to market. Robert appears distracted and disconnected and Jack is frustrated by his apathy. One night, in fury and frustration, he heads in to the hill-top village and dines at a trattoria run by local beauty, Natalia (Valeria Bilello). The couple hit it off and, in the coming days, she inadvertently becomes the liaison between father and son. The other significant female role in Made In Italy is the estate agent, Kate (Lindsay Duncan), an English expat living in the area. She is pragmatic and sees the potential of the property but also the hard work needed to make a successful sale. In the process of the renovation, along with the dust, memories are disturbed and the truth behind Robert and Jack’s years of non-communication are revealed.
Made In Italy may attract an audience interested in seeing Liam Neeson playing a softer role than his ‘hard man’ characters of recent years and will definitely appeal to lovers of Italy, who will be more than happy to wallow in the beauty of the locations (the palazzo is stunning). These things are not enough to save the film, however. D’Arcy’s inexperience behind the camera shows and his direction is mostly ‘by the numbers’. It’s pedestrian and his script is too polite, never really getting its teeth into the men’s grief, the reason why the pair have been unable to get on. Even the burgeoning romance between Jack and Natalia is bloodless and coy, more English than Latin, shall we say. In his desire to keep the story light, D’Arcy has regrettably removed all the passion from his characters. There are a couple of scenes that almost get your pulse racing but they are few and far between, the distractingly light banter keeping us from what could have been a more convincing film. At the end of the day, there are just not enough laughs or enjoyable moments on this trip to bella Italia.