Zoran, My Nephew the Idiot

Paolo is a ne'er-do-well living in northern Italy, unhappily working in the kitchen of a retirement home, drinking as much locally fermented wine as he can get, and exploiting everyone he knows for whatever he can get (wine, food, sex, shelter from the police who are always trying to tag him with a DUI). Finally the police catch up with him, but only to tell him that his aunt in Slovenia has died. Paolo immediately drives across the border to Slovenia only to find that the aunt left him nothing but her ashes, a life-size porcelain dog, and five days with a 16-year-old nephew named Zoran who is bound for an institution.

In those five days, Paolo discovers that Zoran has a talent for darts: he never misses the bullseye. Paolo smells money in this nephew that he really doesn't like or want. But Paolo does want money, so he wraps increasingly ambitious schemes around Zoran's talents although he can't quite seem to get Zoran's name right.

This is a charming story about redemption with family, friends, and life. Can a scoundrel like Paolo find enough value in friendship and love to reform? Ah well, this is a fable. Maybe yes. Maybe no.

We saw this movie at Cinequest 2014 in San Jose, CA.