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JUST HOW slight can a film be without floating off the celluloid and dissipating about the auditorium? Gianni Di Gregorio’s charming but astonishingly insubstantial debut feature looks like a practical attempt to answer a question previously asked by the likes of Jim Jarmusch. Well, Mid-August Lunchmakes Stranger Than Paradiseseem like Transformers, but it remains an engaging and moving experience. So, I guess the answer is very, very slight indeed.
Di Gregorio, an experienced assistant director, stars as Gianni, a middle-aged man who lives with his elderly mother in a reasonably attractive Roman apartment building. One day Luigi, the building supervisor, arrives to offhandedly remind the protagonist that he is behind in certain important bills. If Gianni could look after his own mother then, perhaps, he might overlook the arrears.
