Christmas Present

Four old friends come together on Christmas night after years apart. There is something between them and nobody raises it. They decide to play poker and a fifth man is invited to the table: wealthy, courteous, and said not to know the game. In fact the four have planned it; they came together to take his money. The game begins. As the night goes on who is deceiving whom keeps changing and old accounts come onto the table. Pupi Avati writes and directs. Diego Abatantuono, Carlo Delle Piane, Gianni Cavina and Alessandro Haber are in the cast. Carlo Delle Piane took the best actor award at the Venice film festival for the part. The narrative is almost entirely in one place around a table, and the tension is built through talk rather than the hands of cards. The subject is not friendship but what the thing taken for friendship is; all four owe each other something and none of them says it. Pupi Avati stands on his own in Italian cinema, making films about the provinces, nostalgia and groups of men. It was successful in Italy and a sequel with the same characters was made years later. Who it is for: viewers who like Italian drama and character films set in one location. Who it is not for: little happens, the pace is slow, and a viewer who does not know poker cannot follow some scenes.