APRILE A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): **
Set against the backdrop of a change in the Italian government and of the birth of his son, Nanni Moretti's APRILE stars himself as a neurotic filmmaker. Moretti can best be thought of as an Italian Woody Allen.
Where the two directors differ is that Moretti seems so constantly and incurably happy that it is hard to take his complaints seriously. (I once found myself teaching an overcrowded course at Berkeley, so I warned my students on the first day how tough I would be and suggested that they take the less crowded section that followed mine. I was astonished to find the class just as full on the second day. As the students told me later, they didn't believe me because I was too nice. So it is with Moretti, which takes much of the sting out of his caustic comedy.)
Some of the film's most endearing images are those of Moretti with his infant son. As the baby wails, Moretti doesn't know what to do. A mother can supply milk to quiet the child, but a father has no such weapon in his arsenal. What he can do, Moretti figures, is promise material goods. "Don't cry like that," he tells his son. "I'll buy you a scooter the moment you turn 14."
Among the many scenes that don't work is one involving a bowl of pasta that doesn't appear hot. One of Moretti's assistants on the documentary tries to blow cigarette smoke over the pasta, but it looks fake. Much of the movie's humor comes across as cold as the pasta.
Part of the film's humor surrounds Moretti's insecurity. He worries that his documentaries will not let him say what he wants to say. He is even more concerned that he doesn't have anything to say in the first place.
Another theme is his procrastination. An obsessive letter writer about the political situation in Italy, he never gets around to sending these missives. He decides instead to take them to Hyde Park in London. There, among a group of noisy preachers, he reads his letters in Italian to a quizzical crowd.
As the frustrated Moretti films his documentary, his mind strays to the film he really wants to be making instead -- a colorful musical set in the 1950s about a Trotskyite chef. At the end of APRILE, we get to watch a little bit of this fun little farce being filmed. This is the movie that I wish he had made rather than APRILE.
Although APRILE may find resonance among Italians, much of its humor went past this American. It may be that understanding the nuances of the Italian political parties would have helped. Or perhaps Moretti is simply an acquired taste.
APRILE runs 1:18. The movie is in Italian with English subtitles. It is not rated but might be PG-13 for some language and one brief scene of pot smoking and would be acceptable for kids around 11 and up.
The film will be playing as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival (http://www.sfiff.org), which runs April 20 to May 4, 2000. It does not have a United States distributor.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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