And While We Were Here is about a couple staying on the Amalfi coast for two weeks while the husband performs in a classical ensemble. The opening 15 minutes is pretty standard “marriage on the rocks” stuff. American Kate Bosworth is married to a kind and decent-looking Englishman who is basically humorless, dull, self-obsessed, and who fucks like oil derrick.  She dreams of writing a book based on recordings she made years ago of her grandmother talking about the world wars in England, a project of which he’s basically unsupportive, of course. She wants more excitement in bed; he doesn’t. Well traveled ground.

But then she takes a day trip to the island of Ischia and the film suddenly comes to life in a very refreshing way thanks to Jamie Blackley, who plays the drifting nineteen year old American teenager, temporarily living on the island with distant relatives, who bumps into Kate Bosworth and basically starts following her around talking at her. It’s a really lovely performance by Blackley, who inhabits the character which such skill and effortless natural charm that you actually can believe that his stalker-like behavior would not only be tolerated by Bosworth, but would eventually win her over. What’s more, I found the dialog in this section consistently surprising – not stunning, but somehow nothing that was being said was quite what I expected to hear. When he finally makes his move, and she recoils, asking nastily “is this what you do, seduce women?” she receives the incredible reply “you need to be less serious,” uttered with a simultaneous naivete and sincerity that is shocking. This middle third of the movie came together wonderfully, and is extremely enjoyable – the blossoming of their friendship is like a breath of fresh air.

Unfortunately, And While We Were Here does not maintain the heights to which it has ascended. As the plot narrows in the last third the film, it remains tastefully done, decently written, and beautifully shot, but the dialog starts drying up a bit (never a good sign,) it starts riding its admittedly lovely score and images, and the various lines of dramatic potential quickly start resolving into what I found rather uninspiring ideas. And the film’s ending,while definitely crafted with much care, I found a tad disappointing.

Still, I would recommend this film, just to see the lovely middle section where Bosworth and the kid fall in love, and to revel in the film’s exquisite sense of place. I’ve seen many films shot in Italy, but its pretty rare to find a non-Italian film set in Italy that truly makes you feel like you do when you’re actually in Italy (certainly nothing comes to mind from the last five years;) I was amazed at how effective And While We Were Here was in this regard. Despite the film’s perhaps timid resolution, it’s still a lovely, gentle and interesting little film, well-made and well worth seeing.

And While We Were Here opened at Cinema Village this week, which means of course that it’s getting zero distribution. The 7:25 show was just me and a ninety year old couple. If you live in New York and you want to see this film, you’d better go today, as it will probably be gone by tomorrow!