Mid-August Lunch

Sixtysomething Giovanni lives with his 93-year-old widowed mother, who knows just how to push her bachelor son's buttons. As the mid-August feast approaches, Giovanni gets a surprising offer from Luigi, their landlord-to host Luigi's mother for two days. Considering the overdue rent, the offer is hard to refuse. Luigi jumps on his tenant's affirmative answer and brings his aunt as well. Then the protagonist's doctor friend asks for a favor: can he put up his mother at Giovanni's place for a couple of days? Packed with refined dialogues and nuanced performances, Mid-August Lunch received the Luigi de Laurentiis Award for Best First Film at the 2008 Venice Film Festival.