Loose Cannons Review

• 12th Apr 2011

The film dubbed “Italy’s answer to I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” (well, by me anyway) is now making the difficult transition onto the small screen.  When I saw it in the cinema it was beautifully shot, beautifully acted and beautifully original so it was a DVD release I was incredibly keen to add to my collection.

The story follows Tomasso, a young man stuck firmly in the closet. His incredibly proud, old fashioned parents not only think he is a hot headed, heterosexual go-getting family man, but they think he studied Business Studies at university in Rome. Tomasso fits none of these descriptions: he is a sensitive, homosexual, would be writer who has no intention of continuing the family business running a pasta factory. The film follows him as he tries to come to terms with himself and earn his family’s approval, if possible, sparing his father a heart-attack along the way.

On the big screen this film was beautifully rich in colour, with sepia tones seeping into the audience with the soft heat and hazy summertime tranquillity of an Italian summer. But on the small screen this didn’t come across quite so effectively and the colours seemed more subdued and dull.  A similar story can be told regarding the plot which comes across as predictable and a bit flat, although this can probably be attributed to the language barrier which naturally prevents much of the emotion from reaching an English-speaking audience.

The DVD release comes complete with a music video and a half-hour long ‘making of’ documentary which barely expands on snippets of cast interviews about the role of their character in the film. Loose Cannons is still a nice, casual watch and one which will certainly do more for you than watching a Thomas Cook infomercial.

Dani Singer