Made in Italy is a comedy drama film directed, written and produced in part by James D'Arcy. This is the first film he has directed, written and produced. For this movie he has played more minor roles in other movies.
In the film, estranged father Robert (Liam Neeson) and son Jack (Micheál Richardson) have to travel from London to Italy together. Here they have to sell the villa of their deceased wife and mother. The two must first make the villa salable, because the villa is uninhabited and unkempt. While renovating the villa, the two encounter many beautiful and sometimes painful things that remind them of their lost lover. These moments greatly strengthen the bond between father and son, which makes the collaboration to renovate the villa a lot better.
The fact that this is the first time that James D'Arcy has directed and written a film, is unfortunately reflected in the simple quality of the film. This way, many situations come across as a bit obvious and some storylines are quickly scaled down.
The most regrettable thing is the choice of film genre, because the film is mainly presented as a comedy with a few drama moments. These drama moments are unfortunately overrun by the comedy in the film. This is especially unfortunate with the casting of Liam Neeson and Micheál Richardson in the lead roles of the film. The actors are really father and son, who really lost their wife and mother Natasha Richardson in 2009. Both actors could have processed this situation well in the film if there had been the chance, but unfortunately only get a scene to this really doable.
Despite being a bit simple, James D'Arcy does bring the Italian culture to the fore in the film, with the landscape, food and music of the country. He also uses Italian actors and actresses in the film to help with this.
In the film, estranged father Robert (Liam Neeson) and son Jack (Micheál Richardson) have to travel from London to Italy together. Here they have to sell the villa of their deceased wife and mother. The two must first make the villa salable, because the villa is uninhabited and unkempt. While renovating the villa, the two encounter many beautiful and sometimes painful things that remind them of their lost lover. These moments greatly strengthen the bond between father and son, which makes the collaboration to renovate the villa a lot better.
The fact that this is the first time that James D'Arcy has directed and written a film, is unfortunately reflected in the simple quality of the film. This way, many situations come across as a bit obvious and some storylines are quickly scaled down.
The most regrettable thing is the choice of film genre, because the film is mainly presented as a comedy with a few drama moments. These drama moments are unfortunately overrun by the comedy in the film. This is especially unfortunate with the casting of Liam Neeson and Micheál Richardson in the lead roles of the film. The actors are really father and son, who really lost their wife and mother Natasha Richardson in 2009. Both actors could have processed this situation well in the film if there had been the chance, but unfortunately only get a scene to this really doable.
Despite being a bit simple, James D'Arcy does bring the Italian culture to the fore in the film, with the landscape, food and music of the country. He also uses Italian actors and actresses in the film to help with this.