Mambo Italiano
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Movie Reviews of Mambo Italiano
Movie Review: "...there is no fate worse than being gay and Italian."
Summary: 4 Stars
The 2003 comedy "Mambo Italiano" is a coming-out film about two young Italian men named Angelo Barberini (Luke Kirby) and Nino Paventi (Peter Miller) who both grew up and live in Canada. Directed by Émile Gaudreault and written originally as a play by Steve Galluccio & Émile Gaudreault, the film begins with Angelo's description of his childhood (the young Angelo played by Michael Romano) in which he and Nino (the young Nino played by Mathieu Major-Langevin) were best friends, but as they grew older, Nino spent increasingly less time with Angelo until he didn't want to be with Angelo at all. It wasn't until both were adults that their paths crossed again: Angelo wanting to be a writer, but working as a phone-in travel agent, and Nino as a policeman. To Angelo's surprise, Nino initiates a more intimate relationship than Angelo would have ever expected. After the two move in together, Angelo wants to come out to his parents, Gino Barberini (Paul Sorvino) & Maria Barberini (Ginette Reno), and announce his relationship with Nino. However, Nino, who fears being ostracized by his mother, Lina Paventi (Mary Walsh), and his fellow police officers, wants to keep their relationship a secret, as does Angelo's obsessive sister Anna Barberini (Claudia Ferri) who inadvertently discovers their relationship. Undeterred, after Angelo comes out to his parents, Nino moves back home with his mother and starts to date the obnoxious woman Pina Lunetti (Sophie Lorain) to the delight of his mother Lina, but to Angelo's dismay. Will Gino & Maria be able to accept their gay son? Will Angelo and Nino get back together, or will they move on with their lives? Will Angelo aspire to being something greater than a phone-in travel agent? You'll just have to watch this sometimes whimsical and always entertaining film to find out!
With an entertaining story & dialog, interesting characters and a good dose of humor, "Mambo Italiano" is a fun and engaging film to watch. The most memorable acting came from Paul Sorvino, Ginette Reno, Mary Walsh and Claudia Ferri. Other memorable characters include Angelo's Aunt Yolanda (Tara Nicodemo), Rosetta (Pierrette Robitaille), Giorgio (Dino Tavarone), Alicia (Ellen David), Raymond (Shaun Balbar), Steve (Matt Holland) and the woman seeking help (Lisa Bronwyn Moore). Memorable scenes include Nino & Angelo's camping trip, Anna's frequent psychiatrist visits, the gay help line, Gino & Maria's discussions and the closing scenes. Overall, I rate "Mambo Italiano" with 4 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it. It is well worth watching at least once.
Movie Review: "We leave home two ways - Married or dead"
Summary: 4 Stars
Set in Montreal's Little Italy, this cute, colourful, lively, but terribly overacted and stereotypical movie centers on Angelo, (Luke Kirby,) a 27-year-old gay man who seeks to come out to his Italian parents in order for them to stop him from "settling down with a good Italian girl." As Angelo's parents clutch their chests in horror over his new live-in romance with childhood friend Nino, (Peter Miller) they unsurprisingly enter into a scheme with Nino's sexy, devious Sicilian mama (Mary Walsh) in an effort to break up the couple. Lot's of sitcom scenes ensue, involving statements about tolerance and dignity. Most viewers will probably be able to guess that the resolution to the story that will almost certainly be forthrightly upbeat.
Ginette Reno and Paul Sorvino play Angelo's parents, who are a stereotypical combination of generation-specific ignorance and potential enlightenment. Sorvino as Gino, the family patriarch is still mired in much of his traditional life. He's also terribly unsophisticated. He believes in work and family, and he lives by these traditions alone because, for generations, his family has lived by those traditions. When Gino is confronted with his son's homosexuality he has no frame of reference for dealing with it; his old fashioned values obviously conflict with being gay, but he also loves his son dearly and he wants to support him.
The scene-stealers are Mary Walsh as Nino's sexy Sicilian mama and Sophie Lorain as the vixen who's out to set Nino (Peter Miller) straight. They're deliciously over the top, and are used sparingly enough not to wear out their welcome. There's lots of yelling over the dinner table and irreverent head slapping; lots of "organized chaos." And even as the dialogue tends to reduce most of the characters to simple, flat, and hackneyed cardboard cutouts, much of the argumentative banter is surprisingly witty and funny.
Director, Émile Gaudreault does quite a good job of instilling the tensions of homophobia and family pride off of one another in creative, interesting ways. Obviously following one's heart, and having the courage to live openly honestly are the themes of this slight and whimsical film. Mambo Italiano, while not a profound movie, has a good heart and its fun to watch contemporary gayness and traditional Italian-ness eventually find a way to coexist peacefully. Mike Leonard April 05.
Movie Review: A Movie with a Heart
Summary: 4 Stars
Angelo Barberini has always been different. He enjoyed singing and dancing with his eccentric aunt more than sports, and was obsessed with TV shows like Dynasty, copying down every word of dialogue. He's best friends with Nino, a popular jock at school, but when the other kids start to pick on Angelo and call him a fag, Nino stops hanging out with him in public. Flash forward fifteen years. Not much has changed. Angelo is trapped in a dead-end job while he secretly longs to be a television writer. He still lives at home with his overprotective, traditional Italian family, where you're expected to stay home until you get married. The only problem is, Angelo is a closeted gay man and he doesn't want to get married. He shocks his parents by moving out into an apartment of his own. That's when fate steps in. His apartment is vandalized and who should be the responding officer but Angelo's childhood friend Nino? They renew their friendship and it turns out that Nino is closeted as well. The two men embark on a secret romance, but soon Angelo finds himself longing to come out. Nino adamantly refuses to come out for fear of his job and interfering mother.
When Angelo finally comes out to his family all hell breaks loose. His strict Catholic parents can't accept it and stop speaking to him, his sister is driven into counseling to deal with their dysfunctional family, and Nino can't handle the pressure. Can Angelo and Nino make their relationship work? Will Angelo's parents ever accept him? Can they all find happiness?
This movie is a little like a gay Italian version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It plays on broad cultural stereotypes for laughs, but it does have a heart. The beginning of the movie feels a little sitcom-like, but it definitely improves as it goes on. The story tackles the difficult and serious issues of coming out to your family and dealing with a lover who prefers to stay closeted with a surprising sensitivity and realism. Mambo Italiano certainly has its flaws, but I thought it more than overcame them by the end. Recommended.
Movie Review: Academy Award? No. Enjoyable picture? Absolutely
Summary: 4 Stars
Let's take 'Mambo Italiano' for what it's worth: a very enjoyable film stocked with a lot of laughs, but also poignant because there's no doubt that the tale has been pulled from the real life experiences of playright Steve Galluccio.While leads Luke Kirby ('Angelo') and Peter Miller ('Nino') don't stand out in any way, it's Paul Sorvino and Ginette Reno as Angelo's parents who will stick with you. Yes, as others have noted, these are highly stereotypical portrayals. But it's Gaulluccio's life and *he* wrote the characters that way. Obviously, he's played it up a bit, but that gives Reno (and especially) Sorvino big meaty roles that they can really sink their teeth into. Watching Paul Sorvino is a treat. He's the kind of guy who could read the phone book to you with panache.
I also completely loved Mark Camacho's over-the-top, hilariously profane take as TV exec Johnny Christofaro. In a series of episodes that could again only have been drawn from playright Galluccio's real life experiences, the Christofaro character - in what can best to described as a series of 'friendly' profane explosions - rips into the writer, belittling his work, tearing down his confidence, but then finishing his tirade every time with an upbeat, sincere "How's your Mom?" Once Angelo hits the big time, there's Christofaro on an interview show in a classic exchange, remembering how he always encouraged Angelo to 'never give up' (replete with a series of now characteristic F bombs). Nothing could be further from the truth of course, which is what makes it so funny. Great writing.
A hidden gem: look for Galluccio appearing as 'himself' (in a way) - he's the 'TV version' of Angelo in the sitcom-within-the-movie.
Movie Review: Great blend of ethnic and gay idiosyncracies
Summary: 4 Stars
I was a bit apprehensive to view this film. I'm gay and Italian and I was quite worried that an attempt to portray a combo of both in merely 85 minutes would result in a glut of over-done cliches and caricature-like stereotypes. I also think that movies that focus upon the traditions and idiosyncracies of various sub-cultures often pigeonhole their respective population into a long list of unfair expectations and prejudices.Fortunately, Mambo Italiano pulled off the impossible. It poked fun of tradition while allowing the viewer to realize that tradition and culture can be tortuously binding and limiting. Where this little film also succeeded was in its juxtaposition of the old and the new. The young progenitors of culture are usually the ones who break new ground, who shed the excess and limiting traditions for new, more progressive ones. But, at the same time, as traditions become entrenched in our adolescent minds, they often become so set in adulthood that they have fossilized into our subconscious. We do things without realizing that we are doing them. Mambo Italiano presents this fight. Some of the characters move on. They live in harmony with their own culture but not limited by it. Others succumb to the claws of their predecessors, out of weakness, fear and even comfort. These results are inevitable in any true subculture. We persist. We succumb. We endure.
I recommend this film to anyone, especially those of ethnic backgrounds. It's never heavy-handed. It's sometimes too outrageous. You'll smile. You laugh. You'll be frustrated. But, most importantly, you'll be entirely satisfied by this quaint and almost poignant Italian feast.