Netflix suggested this 2008 Colin Firth movie – A Summer in Genoa. I’d never heard of it but a ) I love Colin Firth and b ) I love Italy, so I was pretty excited. Catherine Keener plays his friend Barbara. and she’s great and Hope Davis plays the “ghost” of his dead wife and she’s great, too. You’ve got a talented, award-winning cast and beautiful Italian scenery on the plus side, and a slow, cloying script on the other. I guess I’m glad to have watched it – there’s the amazing scenes in the narrow medieval streets of Genova to its credit but also the long, deadly periods with the characters wandering around them, tortured and earnest – and I just didn’t get the point.
Or maybe I did get it. I’m not an action movie fan, but I needed more action. Anyone who has read anything I’ve every written here knows that I like simple, introspective movies, but this one’s just boring. “This is tragic!”, the movies screams with every heavy handed piece of symbolism and the attempt to manipulate our emotions with lost children and candles lit in churches. Yes, I get it – the mom died and everybody’s pretty sad. The dad moves everybody to Italy for the summer and one daughter meets hot Italian boys and the other wanders off with the ghost of the dead mother. Colin FIrth, usually really good just looks at them with a pained expression throughout the whole movie and tries to dodge Catherine Keener, who is hot for him.
If you’re going to Genova, rent it for sure. It’s really a nice little travelogue of the city and it will really get you excited about your trip. And there’s Colin Firth – what’s not to like about watching him for a few hours? It’s just not a very good movie, but he’s forgiven. He made up for it with The King’s Speech.
I Love Italian Everything 