Mascarpone

Totally enjoyed this romp of a young gay man finding himself dumped by his lover and having to build a new life. It has some twists and turns and is always interesting to see how he will rekindle his groove. The story kept reminding me of AN UNMARRIED WOMAN, but this time with a gay perspective. The actors are all solid and not bad to look at! In the end, what remains is a stalwart screenplay that is not just entertaining, but also one that makes you think about your own choices along the way.

This is a lovely Italian romantic comedy about a "kept" young gay man who quits a relationship and gains a whole new career and lease on life. Very handsome actors and a sex/love positive message, it is a gay valentine. You will have to see the film to know what mascarpone is. Well, I didn't know. I have watched it three times. A keeper. The anglicized name is Mascarpone in case you have trouble finding it.

First off left me say that I almost never watch movies with subtitles. I get distracted and miss a lot of things because I missed reading something. With this movie I was able to get the full picture.

Antonio has a happy life with husband until one day he learns his husband didn't feel the same way. Antonio had been a house husband so he's now left with nothing.

He rents a room, he makes a friend, he gets a job, and he learns how to be a person he's never before known.

One of Antonio's skills was with making pastries. It was what he did at home, it's what he did in apartment of the room he rented, and he goes to pastry school so that he can pursue this dream.

By the end of the movie Antonio is finally independent. There were some losses but also finding the life he wanted.

Antonio, Denis, Luca, Cristina, and Thomas are all fun characters. Real friends and in one case something more.

We don't know where Antonio is going based on the end of the movie but it's wide open with options.

What a beautiful film story. And yes finally, a film made on gay characters who really project real life stories and do not reproduce the stereotype of a troubling gay life. On the contrary, it is about people who enjoy life, make mistakes, hurt and lough a lot, and they do it all in their own unique way.

This is totally different from your average romance, or a story of a wedding that falls apart. This is about two young men who cannot make it work out any more and try to navigate themselves through a divorce, which makes them revise all things, they took for granted. In the end life finds the way, but the journey in which the film takes us upon, is the real pleasure.

So what have we here? "Mascarpone" is an Italian LGBTQ+ remake of "An Unmarried Woman", (well, perhaps not but we are in the same ballpark), as Antonio is dumped by his husband and partner of 12 years. For the rest of the movie he's basically having sex with a number of handsome hunks presumably in the hope that one of them will turn out to be Mr. Right. What little spare time he has he spends baking and looking for the perfect Mascarpone recipe until finally he realizes....

Well, that would be telling, wouldn't it. It's obvious the attractive cast were picked for their looks and not their acting abilities though the screenplay does provide a few laugh-out-loud moments. On the one hand, too explicit for mass consumption and on the other too coy, (no full frontals), for its intended audience so it's unlikely to find a market. Not bad exactly, just a bit ho-hum.