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Rating:
“Love, Lies & Five-a-Side,” a title that perfectly encapsulates the three main themes around which the stories of the protagonists of this film, written by Fabio Bonifacci and Luca Lucini and directed by the latter, are woven and tangled.
Seven men, seven friends, some colleagues among them, who meet weekly to play five-a-side football, an opportunity they use to relieve stress, their frustrations, to unwind. Sometimes, however, it's difficult to keep their personal affairs on the bench. And so it happens that teammates become confidants, ready to spear out advice, judgments, and critiques.
And so, alternating matches with personal events, we are introduced to the protagonists; starting with Vittorio, played by Claudio Bisio who, probably, delivers his best performance here, a sports-obsessed egomaniac and unscrupulous cheater, who engages in a relationship more carnal than sentimental with his son Adam's ex, who is also his teammate.
Then there is Lele (Filippo Nigro), in crisis with his wife Silvia (Claudia Pandolfi): the two will resort to tragicomic ploys to try and give a new twist to their relationship.
Mina, played by Giuseppe Battiston, captain of the team both on and off the field. The wise one of the group, the number one confidant, the typical pivot when it comes to both football tactics and life.
And then there's Piero (Andrea De Rosa), the youngest and most romantic of the team, faithful, studious, and loving, ready to face a tough situation: his girlfriend Martina is pregnant, but what he doesn’t know is that the child isn’t his, but his best friend Adam’s.
The latter, played by Andrea Bosca, struggles with his inner dilemma for having betrayed his best friend's trust and for gradually becoming, without even noticing, similar to his father Vittorio.
Then there are supporting characters that are less developed, like Filippo (Pietro Sermonti), the stereotype of the serial cheater, with the sole purpose of constantly providing fresh prey to the beast that governs his pants, and Il Venezia (Max Mazzotta), who is entrusted with the most frivolous moments and lines of the comedy.
An enjoyable film, pleasantly watchable. Certainly not a stellar cast, there are unfamiliar or almost debutant faces, but regardless, the level of scenic performance is truly good.
As mentioned before, there's a humorous Claudio Bisio here that I greatly appreciated even in the more serious scenes. The rest of the cast performs excellently. Giuseppe Battiston is a guarantee and he proves it once again here.
The direction manages to convey emotions: the shaky shots, blemished by handheld camera movements in the scenes involving Lele and Silvia, almost aiming to represent the turbulence in their lives, the confused and disordered shots of the places where Mina lives, who manages to give advice to everyone except himself and cannot bear the abandonment by his wife.
The truly funny scenes are not lacking, and in general, it's a nice comedy worth watching if you haven't had the chance to see it yet.
A fine example of a thoughtful comedy that doesn't need to rely on vulgarity to be enjoyable.
At the end of the viewing, one can't help but be satisfied.
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