My Friends
1975 · Directed by Mario Monicelli
Original language: Italian
- comedy
The story
Four inseparable friends try to face their midlife crisis with daytrips and pranks at the expense of their families and the people around them.
What it’s like
Warm, sun-bleached Italian light over Tuscan hills and dusty village piazzas, with the rough, unpolished look of 1970s location shooting: natural colour, unfussy framing, and a camera that stays with the men as they tumble through cafés, cars and country roads. The mood is rowdy but wistful, a bittersweet comedy that laughs at middle-aged bravado while quietly admitting how much these old friendships still matter. Scenes move in brisk, episodic bursts, punctuated by long stretches of loafing talk over wine and cigarettes. The prevailing music is light and jaunty, and the sound is full of street chatter, clinking glasses and car horns. Emotional register swings between broad slapstick and gentle melancholy, and the arcs follow four friends slowly confronting what their lives have turned into. Intensity is low: some drinking, reckless driving and crude humour, but no violence or gore. It suits a lazy afternoon, a comfort watch with friends, or anyone who enjoys Italian comedy with an earthy, sentimental heart, and fits people who want humour that is affectionate rather than cruel.
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