Italianamerican

Running a short yet somewhat interminable 49 minutes, Italianamerican follows Martin Scorsese as he spends a couple of days interviewing his parents, Catherine and Charles, in their own apartment – with the filmmaker quizzing his folks on their respective pasts and other topics of that ilk. It’s an affable, easygoing premise that’s employed to persistently middling effect by Scorsese, as the director, despite his best efforts, is unable to wholeheartedly capture the viewer’s interest or attention at any point – with the experience of watching the picture, for the most part, akin to suffering through someone else’s home movies (ie this is predominantly not as compelling as Scorsese clearly believes it to be). And while there are a few small pleasures to be had here (eg Catherine and Charles’ banter is pretty irresistible, admittedly), Italianamerican ultimately comes off as a far-too-slight-for-its-own-good endeavor that simply has no business running longer than a quarter of an hour or so (if that).

** out of ****