Review By Steve Ramos

(L-R) Andrea (Giuseppe Sanfelice) enjoys a run with his father Giovanni (Nanni Moretti) in The Son’s Room.

Hollywood's continuing response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is a series of battle films that capitalize on heightened feelings of patriotism. They are little more than cinematic diversions. The one new release that actually says something meaningful about grief and tragedy is Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti's heartfelt melodrama, The Son's Room. An engaging and realistic look at a family coping with the loss of a teen-age son, Moretti's matter-of-fact directing style, sly sense of comedy and understated lead performance make the film's drama even richer.

The director's comic, personal documentaries -- Caro Diario, Aprile and The Opening Day of Close-Up -- have been popular with film buffs for years. The Son's Room, Moretti's most serious movie to date in a filmmaking career that spans 25 years, is also his most satisfying.

The Son's Room unfolds its story (co-written by Linda Ferri, Moretti and Heidrun Schleef) through everyday moments and subtle crises. Giovanni (Moretti) is an analyst with a thriving practice. His wife Paola (Laura Morante) is an editor of art books. His daughter Irene (Jasmine Trinca) is a high-school basketball player. When Giovanni isn't busy in the office adjacent to his home, he's jogging through the seaside city streets. A meeting with the school principal raises concern. Giovanni's son, Andrea (Giuseppe Sanfelice), has been accused of stealing a fossil from the school science lab. Andrea insists that his principal is mistaken and Giovanni wants to know who's telling the truth. This small family emergency leads to a life-shattering event when Giovanni returns home after visiting one of his patients and finds one of his son's friends waiting outside his door. His son went scuba diving with friends and suffered a terrible accident.

Moretti builds his story in such a naturalistic manner that The Son's Room has the look and feel of one of his personal documentaries. This subdued filmmaking style has become a Moretti trademark. Like all of his films, both his documentaries as well as his earlier dramas, La Messa E Finita, Palombella Rossa and Bianca, The Son's Room exudes an easygoing spirit, a contemporary setting, gentle comedy and an interest in questions concerning what constitutes a "good life." The Son's Room is also hyper-realistic, full of rich details, lifelike conversations and subtle lead performances.

The Son's Room tells an intimate story, but it belongs on the big screen just as much as any Hollywood blockbuster. Only Todd Field's In the Bedroom, another drama about a family coping with loss, matches the emotional heartache contained in The Son's Room. While In the Bedroom tells a story that's violent and vengeful, The Son's Room tells its drama in a more comforting and metaphysical manner. As a result, The Son's Room packs a bigger emotional punch. It's melancholic, but also humanistic and believable. A vacant blockbuster like The Time Machine quickly fades from my memory. Meanwhile, The Son's Room continues to resonate with me.

Moretti, with his thick dark hair and neatly trimmed beard, makes an affable and engaging dramatic lead. Of course, he's always thrived as the central character in his films. With The Son's Room, Moretti continues to work both sides of the camera, and he is up to the task. Through his poignant performance, we see the family's initial happiness and their emotional fallout over the loss of a loved one. Giovanni visits a diving store and questions a store clerk about air tanks and pressure gauges. He later buys a CD of his son's favorite music and listens to it repeatedly. He cooks dinner, but his wife and daughter never appear to enjoy it. There are plenty of happy memories, but Giovanni struggles with endless questions of "what if?" Through Moretti's gentle demeanor, visible anguish and smart sense of humor, one senses Giovanni's struggle to resume a normal life for himself and his family.

Over the years, Moretti's balance of intelligent comedy and philosophical drama has earned him the label as the "European Woody Allen," but The Son's Room is far more successful than any of Allen's dramatic features. In The Son's Room's final scenes, where Moretti focuses the camera on his own meditative face, a nighttime drive to the French border creates a magnificent conclusion that's nothing short of transcendent. Giovanni, his wife and daughter laugh for the first time in awhile. The Son's Room is a film about doubt over one's mortality and uncertain sadness. Yet, alongside its grief, Moretti finds the type of pure joy that helps explain all of life's mysteries.
CityBeat Grade: A.

E-mail Steve Ramos

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