The Dinner (2014)

Let's be realistic.

Charming and brutal

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

I am a parent. Perhaps you are, as well. Can you even try to imagine the nightmare of your child taking part in a savagely inhuman and completely inexplicable act of violence? Me either. However, this is the devastating struggle inflicted on two upper class Italian couples and their desensitized, privileged kids in the searing drama "The Dinner". The acting here is first-rate across the board. For my lira the husband and wife played by Luigi Lo Cascio and Giovanna Mezzogiorno (a dead ringer for American actress Debra Winger) and their son portrayed by Jacopo Olmo Antinori shine brightest in this story that is as wrenchingly hard to watch as it is to process. "The Dinner" is the second of three films produced in a trio of different countries (Holland and The United States being the others) based on the novel by Dutch author Herman Koch. And for some reason it generally seems to be the lowest regarded of the group. I definitely intend to see the other two cinematic interpretations of Koch's book now. Still, it is very hard to believe that I will find either one of them to be superior to this emotionally gripping stunner.

This movie is about two diverse professional brothers who tolerate each other, but really never had a close relationship. They both lead posh lives with a monthly dinner reservation at an expensive restaurant.They really just go through the motions of tolerating, each others' company, and find that their wives and children are so out of touch with reality that their inability to love one another has transposed to their two teenage children. The boy & girl are so spoiled and entitled that any behavior is acceptable in their privileged lifestyle. The boy, son of the prominent physician is lazy and his lackluster personality is disturbing to watch. Unfortunately, the daughter of the other brother is a successful defense lawyer; and she is by far the most spoiled and deceitful of the two. She schemes a scenario about a vicious attack on a homeless woman after a drinking party that makes them murderers because of their callous, inept immorality. Both couples come to realize they've done a terrible job of raising their 16 year olds,but the dialogue with the two couples gets increasingly strained and bizarre as they try to come to terms with any remedy to change the outcome for their children's destiny. All four adults are in Crisis Mode and it's one disaster after another that clamours to the very end of the film. Very moving and thought provoking about the priorities of very successful people and how they navigate their transparent lives.

"I Nostri Ragazzi" (2014 release from Italy; US alternative titles: "Our Boys" and "The Dinner"; 92 min.) brings the story of two brothers in Italy (one a doctor, the other a lawyer) and their respective wives and kids. As the movie opens, we get to know the brothers, Massimo and Paolo. The two couples get together for dinner once a month to catch up. Meanwhile, we also get to know the two high school age cousins, who are hanging out a lot with each other (perhaps a little too much for being of the opposite sex?). Then, one day, a savage attack against an elderly woman takes place and the security cameras capture what looks to be the two cousins. Are the cousins responsible? How will their respective parents deal with this situation? To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this is a below-the-radar movie that actually does a really good job dissecting the escalating tensions between the two brothers and their respective wives and kids. The movie also compels further thinking on 'doing the right thing' and the potential costs, emotional and otherwise, not only to the potential criminals (i.e. the cousins), but also their parents, I must admit that I am not familiar with any of these Italian actors and actresses, nor am I with the movie's writer-director (Ivano de Matteo).I recently caught this movie during a transatlantic flight on Delta Airlines. I was rather impressed with the selection of movies, including a significant amount of foreign movies. I had not heard of this movie, and doubt very much that this ever reached US theaters. Glad that I had a chance to check it out, and if you are into foreign and indie movies, I'd readily recommend that you check this out. "I Nostri Ragazzi" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

The movie starts off with a seemingly cookie-cutter story that follows the contours of a narrative we encounter (too often, unfortunately) in the news. This includes a very questionable police shooting, which is probably more relevant for the States than it is for Italy, but the director uses it to bring the idea of the movie in sharp relief. The characters' positions relative to the tragedy that unfolds fall quickly into "traditional" discourse patterns: liberal/conservative, sleazy lawyer/kind doctor. The director manages to make this part of the movie not as trite as it could have been, but nonetheless the character development is very "expected". We (the audience) nod our collective heads knowingly as the action unfolds...Little do we (the audience) know that the first part of the movie is just scaffolding for what happens next. A second tragedy enters the story. This time it's not just a news story that our characters happen to be professionally involved with at arm's length. It's much closer. For the audience, the two tragedies may feel equally distant (and that's the genius of this movie!) but for our characters the second one is very personal. The choices these characters make are unexpected and thought provoking.The movie becomes a dissertation about where we *really* stand when the rubber meets the road. Talk is cheap, putting your money where your mouth is turns out to be a whole lot harder. The movie contrasts an emotional response to the world around us to a cold and calculated one, and the conclusions may be anything but traditional.