When mother and wife Marianne (Hope Davis) dies in a car crash, widower Colin Friels takes his two daughters Kelly (Willa Holland) and Mary (Perla Haney-Jardine) to Genova, Italy. This ancient city becomes the backdrop for all of their attempts to deal with this grief.
Genova is one of those films that doesn't impress, nor disappoint; it just, kind of, is. Conflict and hardship are constantly being built up by director Michael Winterbottom, only to be defused moments later. As such there is a continual sense of ill-ease and creepiness throughout. This is at its most heightened when younger daughter Mary starts seeing her mother's ghost. But then it kind of flatlines.
Everything is well constructed and very honest. The performances and characters are near perfect and the city is shot beautifully but it all comes to naught. There's just not enough story for it to work. Events occur with little fanfare or interest, then fade into obscurity. We know these people quite well when the credits roll and the elements are there to make things interesting but it feels like Winterbottom is making a point of not following through.
This is not the sort of film that will encourage passionate responses - whether positive or negative. In the end it's all fluffer and no money shot.
