Taking A Charming Romp Through The Italian Countryside | At The Movies With Kasey
A line from William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night has become emblematic of romantic tales: “Journeys end in lovers meeting.” The new romantic comedy You, Me & Tuscany takes this line literally, but also made me question why we are tempted to dock a movie for giving us exactly what we want. Our expectations for a romance were set hundreds of years ago, before Shakespeare even, making it a challenge to provide the happy ending and some surprises along the way. This film may not be unique, but it is still a lot of fun.
In You, Me & Tuscany, Anna (Halle Bailey) is a professional house sitter, down on her luck and without a place to stay, when she meets Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor) at a bar in the hotel where her best friend, Claire (Aziza Scott), works. She tells Matteo that she dreamed of being a chef and going to Tuscany with her mother after she graduated from culinary school, but her mother died, and she put her dreams on hold. Matteo is from Tuscany, with a villa and a whole life he left behind there, but he insists that she should go. So, she does, and befriends a sweet cab driver, Lorenzo (Marco Calvani). When she cannot find a hotel with a vacancy, she decides to stay at Matteo’s abandoned villa, and ends up telling his family (Isabella Ferrari, Paolo Sassanelli, Stella Pecolo, Stefania Casini, and Tomaso Cassissa) that she is Matteo’s fiancée. Then his adopted brother, Michael (Regé-Jean Page), walks in, and that’s when I realized this movie is While You Were Sleeping but without anyone falling into a coma.
The success of this plot hinges on whether or not we can believe that Matteo’s family will immediately fall in love with Anna. The screenplay leans into how happy they are that she is bringing their prodigal son home (allegedly). Halle Bailey also portrays Anna with such sweetness and vulnerability that it seems plausible that she could immediately make her cab driver her best friend, enchant this big Italian family, and accidentally get Michael to fall for her. For his part, Regé-Jean Page plays incredulity well, and that skill fits Michael’s place in the shenanigans. Matteo’s family moves through the story as a unit, and I wished for more nonsense cross-talk like in While You Were Sleeping (I should disclose: one of my favorite movies), but I would want to get myself adopted into this family. I love it when a bossy best friend is actually the voice of reason, and Aziza Scott delivers many laugh lines in that role. Similarly, Marco Calvani, who you might love in Four Seasons, takes a silly little part and infuses it with such charm and sweetness that he steals several scenes.
You, Me & Tuscany benefits from its postcard version of Italy. The landscapes, food, zippy little cars, and fashion add considerably to the overall production quality. There’s even a little teacup pig and a wine-barrel rolling race. I was prepared for the setting to do all the lifting for the story, but the screenplay gives the characters plausible emotional stakes. Anna is grieving and lost. Michael, also grieving, is lonely. Matteo has a chip on his shoulder, and his family misses him dearly. Those are the things that make the story come together, not the scenic Tuscan vineyard. This film is derivative and full of cliches, but it is also everything you want in a good romcom.
You, Me & Tuscany was written by Ryan and Kristen Engle and directed by Kat Coiro. It runs 104 minutes and is rated PG-13.
David Attenborough’s 100th birthday is next month, and April is Earth Month, so it is the perfect time for the new documentary on Netflix, A Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough. The film tells the story of when Attenborough first met a young gorilla named Pablo, who eventually grew into an impressive silverback. Attenborough tracks Pablo’s descendants and the changing power dynamics in his group, as well as the conservation successes bringing gorilla populations back in the wild.
A Gorilla Story features so much close-up, gorgeous footage of gorillas that it is a marvel that such an intimate portrait of their family was captured. And as Attenborough narrates, sometimes reading from his own field notes, the audience is made to feel like an elder relative is telling them a story of great adventure. The production has an epic quality, not only because of the power battles and tragedies among the gorillas, but also because of Attenborough’s life, his iconic voice, and how vital they are to the project.
A Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough was directed by James Reed and Callum Webster. It runs 76 minutes and is rated PG.
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