Quiet Chaos

The title of this low-key Italian drama would suggest the tone veers wildly from one moment to the next (kind of like a Pixies song), and the opening ten minutes would suggest so too. Businessman Pietro (Moretti) enjoys the summer sun with his brother on the beach; their amusing back-and-forth flags a light comedy, but suddenly two women get into trouble in the water and the brothers race into the sea to rescue the drowning pair. When that short dramatic episode is over, the tone switches again as the two heroes bitch amongst themselves that they weren't thanked for their daring exploits and discuss which one of the women were hotter. Back to light comedy, then. Moments later, however, Pietro returns to his summer home to find his young daughter, Claudia (di Martino) crying - his wife has just collapsed and died. After that, Quiet Chaos settles down and it becomes clear what the title really means - Pietro's quiet demeanour doesn't hint at the emotional chaos bubbling underneath, something akin to Jeff Bridges in Fearless, or Adam Sandler in Reign Over Me. Pietro ditches work and plonks himself outside Claudia's school, where he interacts with a host of characters - his unhinged stepsister (Golino), a boy suffering from Down's Syndrome, various business partners and a hottie with a St. Bernard - but they're only distractions putting off the inevitable and it's only a matter of time before Pietro's anger, sadness, fear and desperation gushes to the surface.

Adapted from Sandro Veronesi's novel by writer-director Grimaldi and Moretti (a director in his own right with The Caiman and The Son's Room on his CV), Quiet Chaos is an amiable drama that finds moments of humour in places least expected. The tone mirrors what Pietro is going through - although those little gags are fun, the nagging feeling that it'll all collapse any minute is never far away. There is one scene, however, that shows that Grimaldi and Moretti try to do too much and it's a precursor to the film's big fault - an unnecessary flashback to a Venetian cafe halfway through heralds an unneeded final twenty minutes; the emotional climax, the reason the film exists, happens far too early and the rest of the film, with nothing left to say, wanders about the place tying up loose ends that weren't central to the plot.