Italian for Beginners

With this warm, sweetly melancholic romantic comedy, the fascinating Danish-born minimalist moviemaking style called Dogme 95 graduates beyond its signature look of shaky-vérité handheld cameras, "found" settings and natural light. Writer-director Lone Scherfig has dropped the pretense and just made a wonderful movie about curiously interconnected, endearing, remarkably well-drawn adult characters, sharing a class in beginning Italian one quiet winter in Copenhagen, who find love, cope with death, and grapple with bad luck. Mixing pensive sobriety with charming romanticism (and some good luck as well), Italian for Beginners is at once deeply affecting and delightfully entertaining. Each and every character feels so absolutely real--like dear friends in dire need of some good advice--that as intimate connections are forged and emotional obstacles overcome, the viewer feels a genuine heartfelt gladness. A true gem, this is highly recommended. (R. Blackwelder)