Lone Scherfig's mellow relationship comedy "Italian for Beginners" is a warm charmer about chance and the rhythms of life among working-class thirtysomethings in a Copenhagen suburb. Slow to get in ...

[EDITOR’S NOTE: “Italian for Beginners” had its world premiere at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival. Following are excerpts from G. Allen Johnson’s review, first published by indieWIRE on Feb. 13, 2001.

The first words I learned in Italian were gamba di legno, or wooden leg, for which Benito Mussolini and Walt Disney are to blame: After the war, my mother, who was fluent in Italian, had been involved ...