The Ferragosto, August 15 is this week; the worst day of the year in Italy to get anything done officially, but the best to be at the sea with your friends and family. It’s a public holiday and everyone is on vacation, but it’s also a church holy day, the Feast of the Assumption.
So go to your city’s Little Italy and celebrate, then come home and watch Gianni Di Gregorio’s adorable film, Pranzo di Ferragosto (Mid-August Lunch.)
From 2010, Pranzo di Ferragosto (Mid-August Lunch) is one of the most perfect movies I have every seen in my life.
Written by, directed by, and starring Di Gregorio, this movie could not have been more of a surprise. How do I even explain why I loved it?
It’s about an unemployed, middle aged Roman who lives with his 93 year old mother and starts babysitting all the other old ladies in his neighborhood. The women are a little snotty to each other at first and then they really get to like each other and don’t want to go home.
What? Doesn’t sound interesting? Well, I guess you had to be there.
So be there – rent this movie. I’m sorry, I can’t adequately explain how charming and real the ladies are – you have to see for youselves. I don’t know how to explain even to myself why I was hanging on every word of their rather mundane conversations. It isn’t trying to be anything, and any lesson we might learn from it is unintentional. There’s no, “and the moral of this story is that old people are a treasure” or anything like that.
It was like having a really good day at one of your old relatives’ house. They’re cooking and complaining and cackling like hens and you look over and think, “I really love you guys.” It’s like that.
Watch it right now with Amazon!
I Love Italian Everything 