Legendary
producer and multiple Academy Award winner Arthur Cohn, best known for Black
and White in Color and One Day in September, after a six year hiatus
from film production returns to the silver screen with the Brian Cox starring
coming-to-terms drama The Etruscan Smile. Based on the 1985 Spanish novel of the same
name by José Luis Sampedro and adapted for the screen by Michael
McGowan, Michal Lali Kagan and Sarah Bellwood, the film moves the location from
Southern Italy to Scotland and Milan to San Francisco but outside of
nationality the events remain more or less the same.
An aged Scottish farmer, Rory
MacNeil (Brian Cox) estranged from his son Ian (JJ Field) and living in
solitude on his Hebridean island is faced with the prospect of leaving his home
to seek out medical treatment for his serious undiagnosed condition. Relocating into San Francisco to live with
his son and daughter-in-law Emily (Thora Birch), Rory finds himself at odds
with the city way of life as well as his son increasingly irritated by his
presence. During his stay, however, Rory
develops a special bond with his grandson he never came to know and is on track
towards a path of redemption. And he
meets a nice art curator named Claudia (veteran actress Rosanna Arquette) along
the way.
While we’ve seen this story done to
death, the film’s scene beauty and Brian Cox’s central performance make it all
worthwhile. Co-directed by Oded Binnun
and Mihal Brezis in their first feature together, the film is handsomely lensed
in widescreen by Javier Aguirresarobe (Thor: Ragnarok), highlighting the
elegant locations and open terrain playing as a stark contrast against the
compartmentalized city life. The
Etruscan Smile also boasts a nice and lively score by Big Bad Wolves composer
Haim Frank Ilfman, switching freely between Scottish pipes and modern city music
echoing the sentiments of Thomas Newman.
Mostly though, The Etruscan Smile
rests solely on the strength of actor Brian Cox who makes the grizzled
elder rough around the edges but also, at heart, a gentle beast with a lot of
love to give and stories to tell. Some
of the film’s best sequences involve Cox and a college professor played by E.T.’s
Peter Coyote who takes special interest in Rory’s Gaelic language, getting into
the heart of the character while illustrating his own value in the world. While the film runs the risk of becoming
schmaltzy saccharine at times, Cox makes the story work so well we don’t mind
when we become aware of the familiar story arcs.
A quiet, affecting and life
affirming drama featuring a gifted actor at the top of his game, The
Etruscan Smile is at heart a good and well-intentioned film that’s sure to
warm even the coldest of hearts. Yes the
film is indeed sentimental and even cliched but Cox brings so much heart and
soul to it we accept it all anyway.
While this doesn’t quite reach the apex set by some of producer Arthur
Cohn’s previous productions, what’s here is a tender and even joyous film about
what it means to still be able to find love even when you think you’ve lost
your ability to love yourself.
--Andrew Kotwicki
