Important Recognition for Ivano De Matteo’s I Nostri Ragazzi

I Nostri Ragazzi: I loved it so much I went to both screenings, it was my favorite at the Venice Film Festival, and it turns out I wasn’t alone in my praise for the film starring Luigi Lo Cascio, Alessandro Gassman, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, and Barbora Bobulova.

I Nostri Ragazzi, Ivano De Matteo’s take on Herman Koch’s best seller ‘The Dinner’, was not just my favorite at this year’s Venice Film Festival, it was also the “Venice Days” jury’s favorite and it won the “Label Europa Cinemas” best European film award.

This award is significant, because in winning, I Nostri Ragazzi will benefit from the promotional support of the European Cinemas and get better visibility thanks to the financial incentive in a network of movie theaters that will show it.

Said the jury: Ivano De Matteo’s film proposes a solid story, well written, and marvelously constructed. Put together in a well articulated way with strong themes:the alienation between parents and children, the rivalry between brothers, and the law, without ever making itself predictable. The actors offer a convincing ensemble , developing their characters and bringing them to life. Because of th strong variety of themes the distribution of this work will attract an audience of all ages.

I’m a big fan of Koch’s The Dinner, so I was surprised and delighted to find a movie that actually improved the book. In the book, the major part of the dialogue took place over the course of one unpleasant evening, it didn’t work as well for me as the movie’s more natural plot progression and the changing settings in the movie.

When two brothers, more for appearance sake than anything else, get together with wives that hate each other for a monthly dinner, it’s not fun for anybody but it’s just something one does. The monotony of the family tradition might have continued forever had it not been for something their kids got involved in, something worse than anyone could have expected.

The jury:
Louis Anschütz – Studio Isabella – Monaco di Baviera (Germany)
Zita Hosszuova – Kino Lumiere / Slovak Film Institute – Bratislava (Slovenia)
Giuseppe Perico – Conca Verde – Bergamo (Italy)
Simon Ward – Independent Cinema Office – Londra (Great Britain)