LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2009
The Lavazza Italian Film Festival 2009 screens at various dates between 16 September and 25 October in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra (Kino, Como, Balwyn and Westgarth cinemas).
Visit: http://www.italianfilmfestival.com.au/ or check your local paper for screening details.
Last updated 26 August 2009.
GENOVA.
After his wife is killed in a car crash Joe (Colin Firth), a Chicago professor, decides to take his family to live in Italy for a year, hoping that a change will help with the healing process. They relocate to Genoa, a city steeped in history, and try to adjust to their unfamiliar surroundings. Barbara (Catherine Keener) is an old friend of the family, and she helps them settle in. Youngest daughter Mary (Perla Haney-Jardine) is driven by guilt because she was responsible for the tragedy, and suffers from nightmares. Teenage daughter Kelly (Willa Holland) embraces the lifestyle of the handsome local boys, and the beach. Professor has a flirtation with a pretty student. The film explores familiar themes of grief, loss, cultural differences, and family. Genova is a beautiful Italian-English co-production, and has been superbly filmed by Marcel Zsykind. Audiences get a palpable sense of the history, culture and colourful life style of this fabulous city. Director Michael Winterbottom is one of the more interesting British directors; he rarely repeats himself and is always tackling different genres and different styles of film making. He brings a natural style to the material here, with plenty of hand held cameras and an improvised style that adds to the richness and emotional texture. Firth as usual is excellent and brings compassion and empathy to his role as the widowed father trying to reconnect with his two daughters and put his life back together. (Greg King