Der italienische Koch

I came across this movie by total chance, and feel very fortunate to give it a try. The argument does not follow that standardized and overly saturated Holywood lines, feeling a bit more familiar and authentic, despite the rush with which the action develops. It leaves the spectator with a warm feeling good feeling and that is the should be the main goal of art, to make you feel, to make you think.

There are some moments in the narrative that could be better explored, are not fully explained and where the soundtrack could be other, or that the camera approach could be different, but the actors do a great job and overall the result is very pleasant.

And Friuli Venezia Giulia is just gorgeous!

Flavia Parenti gave a convincing performance sadly not at all equalled by his counterpart Maeve Demoedy, whom barely had anything to say and offered a handful of expressions. In contrast to her fellow Italian performers her character was bland. She had a limited script which didn't allow her character to be fully explored and was still a blank canvas at the end, and her direction was non existence for such a key role.

The draw of Italian life and scenery was the pull to watch this film which became monotonous and enduring to the end. If the direction and editing were more dynamic the film could have spent time on the meaningful content of the story which actor Flávia was left with tough job to pull off. The direction could have loitered in the stunning style and scenery of Italian life and those key storylines which threaded the film together. There were too many weak and incidental narratives which created bland fill in moments making it very tedious to watch. We made a game of imagining an interesting ending!

The film is poetic, with excellent camera takes of beautiful scenario. The story is nice, but a little too slow. Good actors. (There is a mistake on main story description in IMDB, which refers to an other film). It is worthy to watch it, but do not expect a solid story. Good to entertain, with artistical camera takes, and sound track very well combined with the slow but romantic story line. It is also a curious as a combination of Australian and Italian production, not very common. Its indication fot the best foreign production, is plenty deserved. The main actor is good and long experienced one,

Even though Maeve Dermody is Australian she has spent some time living and working in England and her persona came across as more English than Australian . There was not a trace of an Australian accent, she spoke without enunciating well so was difficult to understand and she played the role more in the reserved style of an English woman than an Australian who would be more relaxed in style. The owner of the di Stasio restaurant was more true to her Australian character.