From the Vine
Charm may be out of fashion but it works a treat in a Canadian-Italian comedy-drama about a change in lifestyle.
Joe Pantoliano
Marco Gentile (Joe Pantoliano) is an Italian business executive living and working in Canada. Bored of being a company man, he decides on a whim to return to Acerenza, his birthplace in Italy, and run his late grandfather's defunct vineyard. His family and the Italians he knew as a child think he is mad but he sticks at it and soon gets everybody on his side. The film shows how a change in lifestyle is good for the soul and that, if you want something badly enough, you should go out and get it.
From the Vine is, of course, sheer fantasy, although it's none the worse for that, for the screenplay and the direction are on the side of someone with an idea to improve his life, his heart and his mind. Joe Pantoliano (famous for his role as Ralph Cifaretto in The Sopranos) is both delightfully gauche and very strong-willed as a man on a mission who has to persuade the local Italians that he means every word. Those locals are a canny bunch of oddball characters who at first are cynical but, with little else to do, teach Marco how to run his vineyard.
It's a fragile story but one that is told with both comedy and emotion plus a touch of magic in which even the vine leaves ‘talk’ to Marco. Pantoliano is supported by Wendy Crewson as his disbelieving wife Marina, Paula Brancati as his daughter Laura, with Tony Nardi, Tony Nappo, Franco Lo Presti and Marco Leonardi as his newly-found fellow workers. However, the real star of the film is the southern Italian location of Acerenza – the country, the landscape, the vineyards and the sunshine, all of which contribute to what is a real charmer of a film. You would have to have a heart of stone or be a Guardian reviewer not to succumb to this diverting tale in which dreams really do come true.
MICHAEL DARVELL
Cast: Joe Pantoliano, Paula Brancati, Wendy Crewson, Marco Leonardi, Tony Nardi, Tony Nappo, Franco Lo Presti, Kevin Hanchard, Michele Stefanile.
Dir Sean Cisterna, Pro Kyle Bornais, Paula Brancati, Sean Cisterna and Francesca Papa, Screenplay Willem Wennekers, based on Kenneth Canio Cancellara's novel Finding Marco, Ph Scott McClellan, Pro Des Alfonso Rastelli, Ed Andrew Wall, Music Mark Alexander, Costumes Marisa Schwartz.
Farpoint Films/Mythic Productions-Parkland Entertainment.
97 mins. Canada/Italy. 2019. Rel: 10 September 2021. Cert. 15.