[THE
SALT OF LIFE screens Friday
July 27th at 7:35 pm and Saturday July 28th at 5:15 pm at the
Cleveland Cinematheque.]
Review
by Bob Ignizio
Early retirement isn't all it's cracked
up to be for 60 year old Gianni (Gianni Di Gregorio). His mother
(Valeria De Franciscis) thinks nothing of calling him on the phone
feigning illness just to get him to adjust the antenna on her TV set,
his wife (Elisabetta Piccolomini) barely acknowledges he exists, and
his daughter (Teresa Di Gregorio) is dating a loser (Michelangelo
Ciminale) she plans on dumping soon, but who for the meantime is
freeloading at Gianni's home. Gianni's lawyer friend (Alfonso
Santagata) suggests that he get out of his rut by taking up with a
mistress, but that proves easier said than done.
Di Gregorio, who also wrote and
directed THE SALT OF LIFE,
is a gifted comic actor with a deadpan style of acting similar to
Buster Keaton's. We probably shouldn't be on his character's side,
but his sad puppy dog looks and likability help mitigate his caddish
behavior to some degree. Besides, Gianni fails so spectacularly in
his efforts at adultery that it's not too hard to feel a little sorry
for the would-be philanderer.
Despite the
film's glib attitude towards infidelity and lots and lots of shots of
cleavage and tight tops as Gianni ogles nearly every female that
enters his line of sight, to call it sexist wouldn't necessarily be
fair. Gianni's mother certainly comes off as a bit of a stereotype,
but his wife is never depicted as a shrew; at worst, she simply views
her husband asexually as something along the lines of a pet or a
child that needs to be taken care of, which given what we see of
Gianni sounds about right. Even the women Gianni objectifies, when he
actually works up the nerve to talk to them, prove as well rounded as
their figures. And the butt of the film's jokes is always Gianni,
never the women.
There
aren't a lot of huge laughs in THE SALT OF LIFE,
but there's a steady stream of light chuckles and mild guffaws. As a
director, Di Gregorio has a fairly simple, straight forward style.
His strengths are a great sense of comic timing and an obvious love
for his characters, flaws and all. The ending isn't entirely
satisfying, but at least Di Gregorio is smart enough to keep things
moving at a light and breezy pace and not let his film overstay its
welcome. 3 out of 4 stars.
As published on Examiner.com
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