A Summer in Genoa

Those interested in Oscar winner Colin Firth's work prior to The King's Speech may be drawn to this rather listless 2008 film. When his wife (Hope Davis) dies in a car crash that not only injures their daughters but was unintentionally caused by the younger of the two, college professor Joe (Firth) decides to take the girls from Chicago to Italy, where his longtime friend Barbara (Catherine Keener) has set him up with a year-long gig at the University of Genoa. While this may sound like a solid premise—a widower with one child on the verge of adulthood and the other nearing puberty, all trying to recover from an unspeakable tragedy while adjusting to life in a foreign land—director/co-writer Michael Winterbottom fails to take full advantage of the possibilities. On the one hand, older sibling Kelly's (Willa Holland) mild rebellious streak is entirely predictable; on the other, young Mary's (Perla Haney-Jardine) trauma over the crash takes on a weird supernatural aspect when recurring visions of her dead mother eventually place her in dangerous circumstances. Joe, meanwhile, seems colorless and indecisive, unable to understand what either of his kids is going through and oblivious to the attentions of Barbara. While Winterbottom is skilled at suggesting a general sense of anxiety in the many scenes in which the girls seem on the verge of getting lost (or worse) on Genoa's narrow, winding back streets, A Summer in Genoa is ultimately an uneventful film that too often is merely dull. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include cast and crew interviews (21 min.), behind-the-scenes footage (7 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an uneven film.] (S. Graham)