Not the middling comedy, but a new Italian film from Turkish director Ferzan Opetek
It follows the story of a young man called Tommasso who along with his brother is heir to a Pasta producing business. He has aspirations to be a writer and leave his home town to return to Rome and plans to come out to his family during an important business meeting as a way of severing his ties. Unfortunately his brother Antonio beats him to the punch causing his banishment from the family and his father a heart attack. Knowing how week his father is Tommasso reluctantly declines to reveal his secret and takes up the family business trying to contend with his crazy extended family and a cadre of his friends from Rome.
The film is basically a classic comedy, with slapstick and whacky families, and jokes built on ironic situations (his mother trying to find clues as to Antonio's homosexuality keeps leading to memories of Tommasso's less than masculine exploits as a child) but it's got a surprising amount of heart and it looks beautiful. It's bouyed by a collection of fantastic performances and an, initial, refreshing change of pace from the usual gay stereotypes. Tommasso is essentially a man who loves another man, not a high octane queen. Unfortunately a visit, in the second half of the film, by his gay friends from Rome goes towards the more tried and trued preening homosexual stereotype. It's a shame because Tommasso is a very strong lead character and it feels like the director is so desperate to make gay jokes that he has to introduce a bunch of new characters.
Still the film is a lot of fun, well worth checking out.
