GOD WILLING

(2015) Heart surgeon Tommaso (Marco Giallini) is a strict, actually quite prickly husband and father who also happens to be a big-time atheist.  Fancying himself quite the free thinker otherwise, when Tommaso realizes his quite handsome son Andrea (Enrico Oetiker), back from being away, is about to come out to him and the family as gay, Tommaso prepares his wife, daughter and idiot son-in-law to be supportive, letting Andrea know he is loved and accepted no matter what.  Matters take a different turn, however, and it's Tommaso who is challenged when Andrea finally works up the nerve to reveal ... he wants to become a priest!  This freaks out Tommaso's world, sending him on a quest to not only find the popular, modern-thinking father who sent his son on this path (Alessandro Gassman), but - when he learns of Don Pietro's less-than-stellar past - to do everything he can to discredit the priest and show his son the fraud religion is.  Truly enjoyed this film, which I only found because a poster for it popped up as a recommend on my Pinterest feed (!); the cast is uniformly excellent, especially Giallini and Gassman, and at times the movie is downright hilarious with some of the crazy things Tommaso does to try and tarnish his son's mentor.  Comedy aside, the film also plays very realistically, displaying both sides of the faithful/atheist coin, and has a terrific ending that's neither too clean or concrete, but instead left this viewer with an emotional and spiritual resonance deeper than i expected to experience.  Lovely film, and a reminder of how badly behind I am on Italian cinema. (not rated)  8/10 stars