Loose Cannons (2010 film)

Plot summary

The Cantones are a bourgeois family who own a pasta factory in Lecce in conservative Southern Italy. One of the two sons, Tommaso (Riccardo Scamarcio), returns from his studies in Rome and hopes to make the most of a family reunion to reveal his homosexuality. Tommaso discusses his plans with his elder brother, Antonio (Alessandro Preziosi), and also tells him about his desire to break away from the family business to become a writer in Rome. During a dinner with the Brunetti family, with whom the Cantones are in business, just as Tommaso is about to share his news, Antonio interrupts and reveals to everyone that he himself is homosexual. Mr Cantone (Ennio Fantastichini), the brothers' father, takes the news badly and is admitted to hospital.

Rejecting Antonio, Mr Cantone decides to place Tommaso in charge of the family business. Tommaso changes his mind about revealing his homosexuality, as he thinks it could kill his father, and accepts. Life is made more difficult for Tommaso when his boyfriend, Marco (Carmine Recano), decides to visit him at his family home along with various other friends from Rome.

Cast

Release

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. On 28 April, the film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, earning the Special Jury Prize. A month later, Loose Cannons was shown at the Seattle International Film Festival. In the United States, it would also be screened at the Provincetown International Film Festival and Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2011.

Throughout 2010 and 2011, Loose Cannons was screened at film festivals such as Aruba International Film Festival, Moscow Film Festival, Durban International Film Festival, Festival do Rio and Ghent International Film Festival, and was theatrically released in France, Russia, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Hungary, Japan, Colombia, the Netherlands, Argentina and Philippines. In October 2010, the film was shown at the London Film Festival before being released in British cinemas.

Critical reception

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 71% based on 17 reviews and an average score of 5.5/10.

Soundtrack album

The soundtrack album for Loose Cannons was released on 12 March 2010 through Universal Music. It was produced by Pasquale Catalano, who also composed the original music for the film. The vocals were recorded by Eleonora Bordonaro, while the music was recorded by Fabrizio Romano (piano), Paolo Sasso (violin), Pietro Bentivenga (accordion), Claudio Romano (guitar), Domenico Rinaldi (oboe) and Pasquale Catalano (guitar, mandolin and harpsichord).

Track listing

1. "Sogno" by Patty Pravo
2. "La linea dei ricordi" by Pasquale Catalano
3. "Tutti lo sanno" by Pasquale Catalano
4. "50mila" by Nina Zilli
5. "Nessuno ad aspettare" by Pasquale Catalano
6. "Duetto" by Pasquale Catalano
7. "Una notte a Napoli" by Pink Martini
8. "Sulina Waltz" by Pasquale Catalano
9. "Sorry, I'm a Lady" by Baccara
10. "Cuore di sabbia" by Pasquale Catalano
11. "Mine vaganti" by Pasquale Catalano
12. "Kutlama" by Sezen Aksu
13. "Due notti" by Pasquale Catalano
14. "Yara" by Radiodervish
15. "La ruota pazza" by Pasquale Catalano
16. "Pensiero stupendo" by Patty Pravo
17. "Mais De Min" by Mariana Delgado
18. "Kutlama (Reprise)" by Radiodervish

Home media

Loose Cannons was released on DVD on 25 June 2010, and on Blu-ray on 27 August.