Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo di ferragosto - 2008)

This sweet Italian comedy about a middle-aged devoted son is quite amusing and won a bunch of awards, mostly in its native Italy. Directed (his debut) and written by and starring Gianni Di Gregorio (who co-wrote the award-winning and intense drama Gomorrah (2008) and more) it takes place over the holiday known as Ferragosto, so the English translation is misleading, as though someone translated "Labor Day" to "Early September." We missed a couple of minutes by waiting in the wrong theatre (hey, we all have our off days) but we still enjoyed it a lot. Apparently Di Gregorio shot the interiors in his own apartment and based the script on an incident from his own life. There are plenty of simple location shots around Rome, including one of the Colosseum, and much cooking, so I'll add this to my list of food movies, bringing the total to 14.