Italian For Beginners (Italiensk For Begyndere) | Review

Rewarding romantic ensemble comedy travels far.

I was starting to think that the Danes were going through some really rough winters with the emotionally-compounding and unrelenting films such as The Celebration, The Idiots & Mifune, but unlike these early predecessors in the Danish Dogme95 series, Italian for Beginners weaves out of the darkness and into the light. This film keeps the wry humor and the usual touch of Scandinavian banality, but also freshly interjects the sensitivity of a romantic comedy. As described in the title of the film, our characters come together through this community-offered introductory course, the course serves as an opportunity or a second (or first) chance for this bunch of vulnerable 30-somethings to rediscover the pleasures of life and to reconnect with the world that brought them grief- it is a joy to watch these characters break out of their little small-village shells.

The characters are memorable at first for their own idiosyncrasies and personalities HalvFinn – (Lars Kaalund) the wanna-be soccer player who is not shy about telling his clients that they have no table manners ,and the priest (Anders W. Berthelsen – Mifune) who has attendence, service and sermon problems at his church), but also very much for their interactions with one another. The real enjoyment comes from watching each of their characters progression- witnessing their relationships blossom paralleled with their love for the Italian language. Director Lone Scherfig adds a very personal touch with some key close-ups and uses the available lighting to create the mood. Contrary to her Dogme95 counterparts, there seems to be less jump-cuts, with her focus mainly on the subjects rather than the devices found in Dogme95 style editing.

The end result is a quirky uncontrived film, a script that cares for all the characters, basically a gem that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Now with over 20 Dogme95 films, this particular movement is certainly producing some inspiring pieces.

Rating 3.5 stars