Made in Italy: Movie Review

Made in Italy is a 2020 family drama with hints of comedy which has its Screenplay and direction by James D’Arcy. The Story revolves around a tempered relationship between a father and a son and how they get a chance to mend their relation during their stay at their old native house.

Robert, played by Liam Neeson, is a famous painter who left painting and lived his life in silence after he lost his wife in a car crash. The movie however, doesn’t give any hint about how famous he was. He blames himself for the accident. He has a son named Jack, who was also in the car crash but he survived and is not so close to his father as Robert always kept Jack away from him.

The character of Robert is shown to be emotionally weak who was unable to accept the reality that his wife is gone and his son has survived. The sorrow of losing his wife got over the joy of survival of his son.

Jack lives in London and wants to but the Gallery he has been working in for a long time, which belongs to his wife from whom he is getting divorced. The movie gives us a hint that Jack might not be able to manage his relations as obviously he is at the verge of getting divorced.

The main story begins when Jack along with his father goes back to his native house in which they both are joint ownership and they have to repair it in order to get it sold at good price. The estate agent suggests them to renovate the house so that she can bring in potential customers.

The house has one main wall which is aggressively painted in red and black by Robert when he lost his wife. This was expression of his emotions and he considers it very special wall. The wall is somewhat used a metaphor for Robert’s heart and what he felt after losing his loved one.

And due to all the memories of his wife and Jack’s childhood are attached to this house, Robert is unwilling to sell the house.

The story moves on and Jack and Robert are working on their home renovation. The movie still has something for the heartbroken Jack, That’s Natalia, a local chef who runs her small restaurant and has a daughter. Natalia is a ray of hope for Jack who just got out of his broken marriage. She also helps them in renovating the house.

While renovating, Jack notices a room that’s been locked by Robert since ever which also made us curious about it. But one day he opens the room and Jack comes to see everything that’s inside the room.

Robert had locked up all the memories of his wife Raffaella. All the paintings he had made of his wife and his son Jack were kept inside this locked room.

Jack upon seeing these, gets emotionally upset and argues with his father that why did he keep this away from him all the time. That’s the point where Robert opens up his heart for the first time in front of his son and tells him what had happened to his mother and how she died in a car crash. And that was the reason why, after that incident, Robert couldn’t paint ever.

Now Jack knows that why his father doesn’t want to sell the house. With this heavy heart, he comes back to London, and starts avoiding his father. In the meantime, He gives divorce to his wife.

Robert crash lands to Jack’s and offers him a cheque bearing the amount of his share in the Italy house. Robert sells his own London house so that Jack doesn’t sell the Italy house and decides to relocate to Italy house.

The Gallery, however is not for sale anymore. Jack also travels back to Italy to be with his father and share the love he has always been deprived of. Italy has a whole lot to offer to Jack as Natalia was also waiting for him. The movie offers a happy ending whereby the father and the son rebuilds their relation while renovating their old house.

All in all, the movie was a fair play. In writer’s view, the makers could have made the movie more indulging by giving Raffaella some screen time, and by creating a bit more involvement of supporting characters. The movie is a good time pass if you are looking for an emotional drama.