January 31–February 7, 2002

movie shorts

Italian for Beginners

recommended

Departing from the gloom-and-doom outlook characteristic of almost every movie made under the Dogma manifesto, Italian for Beginners practically defines the word "charming," so light and blithe is Lone Scherfig’s winning romantic comedy. True, there’s a hefty dose of familial dysfunction and personal angst, but they’re only obstacles to the inevitably rosy conclusion. Revolving around a Italian-language class where the film’s characters all meet, Italian is a roundelay of finely-tuned bittersweet comic performances, from Peter Gantzler’s sweetly oafish hotel manager to Lars Kaalund’s volcano-tempered soccer obsessive. It doesn’t aim for the grandiose statements of Dogma’s other films, but Italian for Beginners does everything it sets out to do.

—Sam Adams

(See Sam Adams’ interview with writer-director Lone Scherfig.)

(Ritz at the Bourse; Ritz 16)