Friendship, interrupted & rekindled, beautifully explored in Simone Catania's DRIVE ME HOME

Essentially a full-length road-trip movie buoyed by two marvelous male performances, DRIVE ME HOME -- a lovely, meaningful-yet-never-spoken title -- is one of those special films from Italy that give us an exploration of "family" in a manner no other country seem to manage quite as well. Bonus treat: This one is often visually stunning, too.

Simone Catania (shown at right), the film's director and co-writer (with Fabio Natale), has created a little movie with big themes -- the testing of friendship, the meaning of goals unachieved, the relationship of past to present -- all of which are explored honestly, even deeply, without a lick of pushing or overdoing anything. This is quite an accomplishment, but it is one so gracefully, subtly managed that, in our current era of overlong overkill, it is likely to be near-completely overlooked.

The two leading roles could not have been cast better nor, I think, could the resulting performances been improved. Both Marco D'Amore (above, left), best know for his role in the Italian television series Gomorra (available here via Netflix), and his co-star Vinicio Marchioni (shown below, and last seen by me in the also lovely and poetic Italian crime film, Tainted Souls, now available via Amazon Prime Video) inhabit their very different roles completely. The result is a movie that resonates and builds to a conclusion that -- in any other film might seem like foolish feel-good. Here, thanks to the complete credibility of the actors, instead it seems as though these two men, along with us viewers, have indeed reached some version of "home."

With boyhood scenes from the two men's past in Sicily intercut with their present-day road trip through Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and finally back to Italy, we slowly learn both who they were and who they are. They are learning this, too -- which is one of the things that makes the film so quietly moving.

Along the way, due to an accident and the need for truck repair, they encounter the kind of commune that could make socialists of us all, as well as a visit to a no-holds-barred sex club where anything goes and some important information is revealed. How this information is processed by one of the men is handled by the actor and filmmaker in exemplary fashion.

There are some sweet and spiky supporting characters --  especially those played by the lovely Jennifer Ulrich and the fine-and-still-kicking Lou Castel in that very special commune -- but the film belongs to D'Amore and Marchioni. And to that amazing truck that the character played by D'Amore drives. It (shown above and below) -- along with these two guys and the movie they inhabit -- is an absolute keeper.

From Breaking Glass Pictures and running just 99 minutes, the movie makes its American debut on home video tomorrow, Tuesday, September 24 -- for purchase and/or rental.