Loose Cannons () is a 2010 Italian comedy film directed by Ferzan Özpetek. Özpetek also wrote the script with the help of Ivan Cotroneo, while Domenico Procacci served as a producer. The film stars Riccardo Scamarcio, Alessandro Preziosi, Nicole Grimaudo, Lunetta Savino, Ennio Fantastichini, and Ilaria Occhini.
Loose Cannons premiered on 13 February, 2010, at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. The following month, it was theatrically released in Italy, Switzerland, and Turkey. In the United States, the film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on 28 April, 2010, where it won the Special Jury Prize. It was later screened at the Seattle International Film Festival, the Provincetown International Film Festival and Palm Springs International Film Festival. In October 2010, the film was screened at the London Film Festival.
Loose Cannons received generally positive reviews from critics. It was nominated for thirteen David di Donatello Awards, including for the Best Film, winning the Best Supporting Actor for Ennio Fantastichini and the Best Supporting Actress for Ilaria Occhini. The film also earned six out of eleven nominations at the Nastro d'Argento Awards.
Plot summary
Tommaso Cantone left his homework in Salento, Southern Italy, because of its narrow-minded inhabitants, and for some time he has resided in Rome with his boyfriend: Marco, in fact, in the big city, he was able to create his own independence and live in the light of the sun his homosexuality. After a long time, determined to reveal his sexual orientation to his family, he returns to his homeland, where he comes to confront his middle-class parents, and a mentally different society. The Cantone are a large and bizarre family, known in Lecce for being the owner of a large industrial pasta factory. Tommaso will have to face his severe and hard father : Vincenzo, his suffocating mother : Stefania, his elder brother : Antonio, whom his father would like to be joined by Tommaso in the management of the pasta factory, and his sister : Elena, who aspires to a better life than that of a housewife. His eccentric aunt Luciana and his grandmother are also part of the numerous clan of the Cantone.
Once back in Lecce, Tommaso comes out to his brother Antonio, who is not particularly disturbed by the revelation ; however, on the evening in which Tommaso would like to reveal himself to his entire family, Antonio is the first to speak and to come out as gay himself : feeling the responsibility to carry on the family name, the man had always hidden himself, but in seeing the coming out of his brother his final sentence he had decided to do it first. In fact, the consequences of that gesture are tragic : Vincenzo kicks Antonio out of the house shortly before having a heart attack ; the whole family feels targeted by the slander and gossip of the town, while Tommaso has the whole responsibility of the pasta factory. Tommaso also lied about his university career : he has in fact declared that he had enrolled in economics and commerce, while in reality he's close to a degree in literature and his dream is to become a writer. In this, however, he finds an unexpected ally in Alba Brunetti, daughter of Vincenzo's work partner and brilliant economist, with whom Tommaso establishes an ambiguous friendship.
While the family tries to adapt to the sudden change, Tommaso feels more and more inadequate in his new responsibilities, which also leads him to neglect his boyfriend: Marco and not to be able to return to Rome as he would have liked. After a very tense confrontation with his brother, in which each of the two accuses the other of each other faults, the daily life of the Cantone is upset by the arrival of Marco together with his friends Davide, Andrea and Massimiliano : believing them to be heterosexual, Tommaso's parents welcome them in his own house, against Tommaso's wishes. Soon the extravagance of the three friends makes the family suspicious, confirming some clues about him being gay ; Meanwhile, Marco accuses his boyfriend of not being able to deal with his parents, and their relationship becomes very tense. Only shortly before departure the two manage to clarify the things between them ; once Marco and his friends are gone, Tommaso finally finds the courage to face his parents and declare that the life they have chosen for him is not the one he wants to live.