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SFFILM Festival

The Trip to Italy

Directed by Michael Winterbottom

UK/Italy | 115

2 May
Fri, May 2, 2014 at 1:30 pm PT
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Description

The dueling Michael Caines return as those comic actors with a gift for impersonation Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon continue the culinary adventures they began in The Trip (SFIFF 2011). Director Michael Winterbottom manages to one up that film’s gorgeous Lake Counties scenery and food porn quotient by sending the bickering buddies to Liguria, Tuscany, Rome, Amalfi and Capri. As before, the reason for the journey is ostensibly to write a series of articles for The Observer and there is an element of documentary in the restaurants, the hotels and all the attractions that the men visit. But Coogan and Brydon—who completely improvised their parts—are playing fun-house mirror versions of themselves. The more successful and famous Coogan shields massive insecurity and petty jealousy of even the smallest Brydon triumph behind a mask of obnoxious arrogance. Affable, diminutive Brydon is more passive-aggressive, gently needling his friend and not immune to his own insecurities. On the road together they are a joint midlife crisis on wheels, yet as they squabble their way through some of the most stunning real estate on this planet, their humor never deserts them and neither does their wonder in the world. Erudite travelers, they chase the ghosts of Byron and Shelley—one-upping each other with quotations in the same manner that they duel over their movie-star impressions—even as they ogle the typical tourist sites. It is a misnomer to call what Coogan, Brydon and Winterbottom have created mockumentary. The trio digs deeper than that, arriving at a character-driven tale that is both hilarious and poignant. —Pam Grady

Director Michael Winterbottom

After beginning his career in television, Michael Winterbottom made his feature debut in 1995 with Butterfly Kiss. Since then he has become a prolific director whose body of work spans multiple genres. Among his films are Jude (1996), Welcome to Sarajevo (1997), The Claim (SFIFF 2001), In This World (2002), A Mighty Heart (2007) and five films with Steve Coogan, that in addition to The Trip to Italy, include 24 Hour Party People (2002), Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005), The Trip (SFIFF 2011) and The Look of Love (2013).

Film Details

Language English

Year 2014

Runtime 115

Country UK/Italy

Director Michael Winterbottom

Producer Melissa Parmenter

Writer Michael Winterbottom

Editor Mags Arnold, Robbie Gibbon, Paul Monaghan, Marc Richardson

Cinematographer James Clarke

Cast Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon