A London artist and his estranged son try to mend their relationship as they work together to repair a dilapidated house in Italy.
Two Liam Neeson films are in the cinemas at the same time and you get to pick between the action-thriller Honest Thief or the romance-comedy Made in Italy.
Made in Italy is the feature film directorial debut for James D'Arcy. If that name sounds familiar, it could potentially be from his role as Howard Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis, in Avengers: Endgame and the Agent Carter television series. Whether it be because of D'Arcy's inexperience as a director, Liam Neeson in what is essentially a rom-com, or because of the confounding historical similarities that this story has Made in Italy simply falls flat, never developing its characters enough to create that bond of relatability with the audience.
I mention historical similarities because this film stars Liam Neeson and his son, Micheál Richardson, who lost their respective wife and mother, Natasha Richardson, after an unfortunate collision. Made in Italy appears to be inspired somewhat by this tragedy, putting Neeson and Richardson in a scenario where their characters are grieving the loss of their character's wife and mother respectively. Whether morbid or cathartic, it is an uncomfortable parallel that is made worse by poor acting and a lack of genuine emotional responses.
"There was an attempt" is the phrase that keeps coming to mind. The film plays with the concepts of broken families, toxic masculinity, emotional blocks, and social isolation, but never really delves into any of them in enough depth to be of worth. Liam Neeson has an opportunity to shed the expectations of masculinity that have been hoisted upon him since Taken, and yet he has the emotional range of Kristen Stewart back in the Twilight days. There was an attempt to show sincerity and to provide the actors with the opportunity to say things that maybe they could not say in real life regarding their own past, but everything comes across as being withheld. Restrained and repressed.
The scenery is gorgeous but never comes across as a part of the story. The red tiles and clay of the villas, the vibrant greens of the shrubbery, and yet it barely registers as part of the film. It could have been set in any location with minimal changes to the storyline needed. This is a drama between Neeson and Richardson's characters, that happens to take place in Italy, and has a side plot of romance to keep the pace of the film moving.
With middling cinematography, a meandering narrative, and mediocre acting, Made in Italy relies heavily on awkward humour and explicit language to distract the audience from how benign and middle-of-the-road the story is. There will be a few laughs, but it has little to do with the plot and is largely predictable (except for a few jump scares that elicited a few literal screams from other members of the audience). A safe watch, but not an overly entertaining one.
Made in Italy is in cinemas from November 19, 2020
Originally posted to: https://djin.nz/Kr8744