Made in Italy(2020)

Plot Summary

• The movie opens in Flite Gallery, an art gallery in London, managed by Jack (Micheál Richardson, Liam Neeson's real life son) but owned by Ruth (Yolanda Kettle) Jack's estranged wife and her family. Ruth tells Jack that her family is selling the gallery and seeing as how he put great effort but never any money in it, he has no say or input in this decision. Jack says that he and his father can sell the Italian house and that with that, he'll buy the gallery.Jack goes to his father, Robert (Liam Neeson), a true bohemian artist, whose London flat is also his studio, first thing in the morning, to tell him that they have to sell the house in Italy. Robert comes out of his bedroom wrapped in a robe, with a scruffy beard and mustache and as he is talking to Jack, a woman comes out of the bedroom, fully clothed. Robert introduces the woman to Jack but calls her by a different name. She curses him and storms out.Jack, not yet having told his father that he and his wife, Ruth, are divorcing, insists they go to the Italian house and just sell it. Robert tells him that the house isn't what he might imagine it to be, not having been visited for many years. Robert tells Jack that he couldn't understand Jack's sudden interest, who hadn't been to that house since he was seven years old.Jack has no feeling for the house in Tuscany, Italy and can't understand why his father doesn't want to sell it. When they arrive, the old, neglected, piece of real estate is so run down, more than either of them expected, that the warped wooden front door won't even open. When Jack puts his shoulder into banging the unlocked door, it falls into the house, kicking up a lot of dust.Jack contacted Kate (Lindsay Duncan), a real estate broker who is British and maintains her composure, even in the face of the eyesore of a house. There is an entire wall painted in black, brown yellow, blue and red, Robert's homage to the style of artist Frank Swine.With holes in the roof and ceiling and other, sorely needed repairs, all they can eat in that place is slices of bread and some tomato, with coffee out of a thermos and disposable cup. There is also a weasel that took up residence and doesn't appreciate being locked in the cabinet in which he was discovered or, for that matter, having any other human interference in his life.With Kate's help, a local expert comes and captures the weasel, removing it from the premises. After that, local repairmen renovate, close up all holes and put fresh paint on the walls and archways.Robert tries to delicately steer Jack away from selling the house and Jack storms off and drives to the town, where he clumsily knocks over a podium while reading a menu and a couple of outdoor tables of an empty restaurant. Leaning over him, as he's sprawled on the cobblestones, is Natalia (Valeria Bilello), owner and operator of the restaurant. Though the place is closed on that day, she serves Jack a plate of Risotto and they talk about the house and the fact that he wants to sell it.As things go on, people come to see the house and father and son finally go out to eat, at Natalia's restaurant, which is full to capacity this time with her family celebrating her brother-in-law's birthday. A man, Marzio (Gian Marco Tavani) arrives, accompanied by a woman and Natalia refuses to accommodate them and her family gather behind her to make sure he and his date leave.Jack, meanwhile, has got the motorbike running and rides it regularly. He takes in the view and country and spends time with Natalia, learning more about her. Jack opens up to her in ways he can't to his father. He also learns that she is divorced with a young daughter, in her ex-husband's custody.Robert is ever more eager to keep the house. When people come to buy the house, he sends them away, refusing the sale.In the more habitable house, Jack discovers a bedroom that contains all of his childhood and his father's drawings of him and his late mother. Jack confronts his father for having kept those things and memories from him all the years. His father tells him of the car accident that took her life and of how he was the one who should have been in the car, except he was so engrossed in painting that he lost track of the time and she lost her life when it should have been him. With Robert shaking and crying bitter tears, Jack comes up from behind him and embraces him. Robert turns to face Jack and hugs him. Father and son finally bond at this moment. Jack finally tells Robert that Ruth left him and they're getting a divorce.Robert meets Jack in London, outside Jack's flat, after Jack won't take his calls and later, seated at a restaurant, he hands Jack a check, with his hand shaking, telling him that he sold his London house, which will buy Jack out of his share of the house in Italy and enable him to buy back his gallery. They open up to one another and Robert tells Jack that the reason he never came to the gallery was because Ruth told him it would put too much pressure on Jack. Robert tells Jack that he's going to live in Italy and that, at Kate's suggestion, is going to host "painting holidays."We next see Jack walking into Flite Gallery, which is empty except for Ruth and a contractor. Ruth comes up to him to tell him that they're not selling and Jack insists on giving her something she would want. Jack hands Ruth signed divorce papers.Jack returns to Italy, to a well kept, furnished house, during an art class his father is giving. Jack tells Robert that it was never about the money but he wants a father. They embrace, as Kate looks on.Jack meets Natalia, where she explains that any contact with her ex-husband is just to keep the peace for the sake of her daughter.Jack tells his father that he's going to open a gallery exhibiting his father's works. In the closing scene, father and son are mixing paints, side by side and repairing the "homage to Frank Swine's style" wall.

Storyline

• Jack is getting divorced and his London art gallery building belongs to his parents-in-law so his soon-to-be ex-wife gives him one month to find the money to buy the place. He contacts his estranged artist/painter dad, Robert, and they drive down to Tuscany, Italy, to fix up and sell the country house inherited from their late wife/mom (car accident). Jack hasn't been there since he was 7 and it hasn't been used the following 20 years or so. It has a fantastic view but is in dire need of repair and paint. Jack heads to the nearest town and meets cute, single divorcee Natalia, who owns and runs a restaurant there. — Scott Filtenborg