Underplayed Gems

Italian for Beginners (2000)

Italian for Beginners poster
Original title
Italiensk for begyndere
Directed by
Lone Scherfig
Genre
drama film, comedy film, romantic comedy, romance film
Country
Denmark, Sweden
Runtime
1h 48m
Rated
12
Rating
6.4 of 10 from 152 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A group of lonely people in a small town attend an Italian language class and form unexpected connections. The film follows their everyday lives as they find companionship and romance through shared lessons.

light-heartedwarmgentleupbeatintimatequirkyearthytender

What happens

Italian for Beginners (Danish: Italiensk for begyndere) is a 2000 Danish romantic comedy film written and directed by Lone Scherfig, and starring Anders W. Berthelsen, Lars Kaalund and Peter Gantzler, together with Ann Eleonora Jørgensen, Anette Støvelbæk and Sara Indrio Jensen. The film was made by the austere principles of the Dogme 95 movement, including the use of handheld video cameras and natural lighting, and is known as Dogme XII. However, in contrast to most Dogme films which are harsh and serious in tone, Italian for Beginners is a light-hearted comedy. It was made on a $600,000 budget, and went on to gross over 27 times that. After the film's release, significant similarities between its plot and that of the novel Evening Class by Maeve Binchy were identified. The distributor, Zentropa, paid an undisclosed sum in compensation to Binchy. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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