Loose Cannons (Mine vaganti)

Turkish-Italian director Ferzan Ozpetek (Facing Windows IFF03) takes a fresh detour in this amiable coming-out comedy LOOSE CANNONS, which was nominated for Best Film and Best Director at the David di Donatello (Italian Academy) Awards 2010.

Tommaso (Riccardo Scamarcio, Eden is West) has a comfortable life in Rome as an aspiring writer and is in a steady relationship with his boyfriend Marco — a life he has kept secret from his family. When he's called back to his hometown of Lecce in Southern Italy to help run the family business, he decides to reveal his homosexuality to his conservative family and hopefully get out of his business obligations in the process. But when his plans are thwarted, Tommaso gets stuck on the path that he was desperately trying to avoid.

Ozpetek takes a playful approach to this family dramedy, matching a critique of provincial Southern values with an eccentric cast of characters that includes a philandering conservative father (the superb Ennio Fantastichini), a boozing aunt, a pair of disgruntled maids and Tommaso's bubbly friends. As each family member's quirks slowly come to the surface, Ozpetek's heartfelt film reveals that Tommaso isn't the only one struggling to navigate between la bella figura (a good public image) and his true desires.