MADE IN ITALY

Writer and Director
James D’Arcy

Stars
Liam Neeson, Micheál Richardson, Valeria Bilello and Lindsay Duncan

This feature-length film from actor and debut director James D’Arcy (Cloud Atlas, Dunkirk) boasts an appealing and rather personal casting choice of having real-life father and son Liam Neeson and Micheál Richardson star opposite one another. The latter plays Jack, a manager of an art gallery in London who faces losing his business as his wife plans to sell it when their divorce is done and dusted. In desperate need of funds to save his gallery, Jack is pushed to make contact with his estranged father, Robert (Neeson), to discuss selling the empty home he grew up in, nestled within the scenic and idyllic Italian countryside. The two men agree to drive and pay a visit to the old ramshackle, and inevitably unpack decade’s worth of emotional baggage once there.

Liam Neeson stars in Made in Italy trailer with son Micheál ...

As you can ascertain from my plot synopsis, Made in Italy has quite a poignant story at its heart. Unfortunately, in his bungled attempts to bring in a feel-good element and turn the film into the dramedy it is not, D’Arcy’s inexperience writing and directing a movie is evident and exposed. Nearly every attempt made to be light-hearted and comical, whether it be during the most awkward spag bol eating montage you’ll ever see or several occurrences of just plain odd behaviour from various characters, are noticeably forced and left me feeling perplexed and weirdly uncomfortable. Rather than interfering with what was most certainly a more than promising foundation for this story, I wish that James D’Arcy had instead concentrated on subtly developing the layers of hurt over the years between father and son. I’m sure that opportunities to more organically derive humour from the heartache would have then presented themselves. Liam Neeson and his son are certainly up to the task. The other piece of constructive criticism I have of D’Arcy’s writing and directing is its foreseeability (particularly when involving supporting character, Natalia, played by Valeria Bilello) and very formulaic structure, respectively. At least there is plenty of the summery Tuscany setting to absorb, I guess.

2 ½ stars

First Look At Liam Neeson & Micheál Richardson In James D'Arcy's ...