I'm Going Home

Thanks to the dependably marvellous Piccoli, this heartfelt but slim, slightly predictable and sometimes silly study of an actor in his twilight years manages to hold the attention throughout, despite longueurs as we see him on stage and in rehearsal (for, obviously, The King Is Dead and The Tempest and, very implausibly, as Buck Mulligan - to be sûr! - in a Malkovich movie of Ulysses). The film has its moments - the sudden news that he's lost almost his entire family in an accident, some gentle comedy with café tables, Piccoli's expression as make-up is applied - but without the actor's charm, warmth, expertise and sheer presence, the pickings would be slim.