David's Birthday

Just got back from a decent Italian flick David's Birthday which is playing at NewFest. My friend thought the title made it appropriate for my special day though the movie birthday in question wasn't exactly, um, celebratory once it rolled around at the end. But it's the thought that counts.

We liked the film's attention to a weird amount of ensemble character detail considering it kept threatening to become a one and a ½ man show in the Death in Venice mode. The plot, such as it is, concerns a married Italian man Matteo (Massimo Poggio) on vacation with his wife, played by the always welcome Maria de Medeiros -- I just love her movie face -- from Henry & June and Pulp Fiction, and another couple. Matteo becomes obsessed with his friend's 18 year old son David (Thyago Alves), an underwear model from New York. It's really not as tawdry as it sounds! Most of the good stuff in the film is in the oddly realistic wandering mundane conversations between spouses and friend's spouses. I loved one tense heart-to-heart between Matteo and Francesca that never self identified as such. Instead, the conversation disguised itself as a simple list of home decorating plans. People do like to distract themselves from the heavy stuff.

Like I Am Love, another new (and much greater) Italian film about a sexual awakening, it goes from being electrified by sensuality to being punishing about sex. Movies can be so puritanical.

What movie did you see this weekend? At home or the theater?