Genova

Serially chameleonic Brit auteur Michael Winterbottom continues his sojourning ways with "Genova," even as its tale of familial loss and grief seems a deliberate extension of -- and chance to improve upon -- the director's "A Mighty Heart." Here, the titular Italian town shares top billing with Colin Firth as a bereaved husband, with two highly affecting young actresses as his resilient daughters, the smaller of whom periodically sees Mom (Hope Davis) as a ghost. Pic's strengths as a '50s Euro-style meller paradoxically make "Genova" a somewhat iffy proposition for Stateside release.

Michael Winterbottom knows how to tell a story. He knows how to make it real and how to press our emotional buttons. This story about love, loss and making new rules is not unfamiliar, yet in Winterbottom's hands, it has an appealing freshness. New beginnings in new Italian surroundings include not only a culture change, but a chance to come out from the shadows inherited by the past. Life affirming and warm, Genova captures a great sense of place as we explore the intricate maze of cobbled streets, the historic buildings with peeling facades and well-worn green shutters, sunny beaches and dense forests.

Genova stars Colin Firth as a professor whose life is turned upside down by the death of his wife in a car accident.

An ancient Italian city, a mourning parent, a ghostly, potentially threatening presence – don’t look now, but there appears to be a Roeg element at work in the latest effort from Michael Winterbottom.

Style in search of story.

While the story in itself doesn’t lack drama or emotion, its delivery certainly does.

Bottom Line: Fine performances bolster this moody, poignant portrait of guilt and forgiveness

As solid as you’d look for from Winterbottom and this cast, but the touches of supernatural thriller in an otherwise rather conventional coming-to-terms-with-bereavement drama aren’t entirely convincing.