The ANNOTICO Report

A physically and psychologically impaired 15-year-old Paolo is a moral
uplifter who leads his emotionally disabled father to a higher plane of
humanity.
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"THE KEYS TO THE HOUSE" ("Le Chiavi di Casa") ***

Chicago Sun Times
Bill Stamets, Film Critic
June 10, 2005

Superbly shaping the mood of this film about emotional disability, Italian
director Gianni Amelio is less agile in leading his characters -- and
viewers -- across the chasm that distance the able-bodied from the
disabled. For all his care with framing, scoring and pacing, Amelio pays
less attention to stereotypes on the surface of this affecting drama.

In his his acting debut, 16-year-old Andrea Rossi plays 15-year-old Paolo.
Raised by relatives of his unmarried mother after a breach birth left him
physically and psychologically impaired, Paolo meets his birth father for
the first time on an annual trip to a Berlin pediatric hospital. Paolo is
already asleep in his train compartment in Rome when Gianni (Kim Rossi
Stuart) sees him for the first time.

In a small stroke of genius, Amelio shows us only Gianni looking fondly,
though not what he's looking at. The next morning Gianni finds Paolo in his
stocking feet playing a noisy computer game in the dining car. Gianni
introduces himself, as Amelio introduces us to Paolo, too.

Amelio reports in his press notes that Rossi impressed him with his
"trusting cheerfulness" and "joie de vivre," traits that enrich his
character Paolo. "The Keys to the House" portrays its disabled character as
a moral uplifter who leads his emotionally disabled father to a higher
plane of humanity. Whether that strikes you as a cliche, the sincerity of
this father-and-son road trip is never in doubt.

(No MPAA rating. Running time: 105 minutes. In Italian, with English
subtitles. )

Bill Stamets is a Chicago-based free-lance writer and critic.