THE SALT OF LIFE (NR) Sixty-year-old married retiree Gianni is burning out with the ladies. It's not for lack of trying, however. Prodded by his lawyer friend to pursue an affair with any woman he can, the charming Gianni tries just that. Women—the flirty downstairs neighbor, Gianni's mother's caretaker, an ex-girlfriend—love his low-key humor, his self-deprecating air and his easy-going befuddlement. Many of the women in Gianni's life need him, but not enough to sleep with him. What's a lovesick, aspiring lothario to do? His friend tries to set Gianni up with a prostitute, but Gianni isn't interested. He wants a real fire set under his feet. He wants romance. Meanwhile, Gianni's wife (Elisabetta Piccolomini) and college-aged daughter (Teresa Di Gregorio) start to worry about his health, since Gianni is drinking more than usual and keeping odd hours.

Writer/director/star Gianni Di Gregorio's second feature (his first was the 2008 movie Mid-August Lunch) is an observant, dry comedy that wistfully deals with Gianni's predicament in a refreshingly straightforward manner. It could have easily come off as creepy and distasteful, yet Di Gregorio approaches the material with a light though assured touch, just as he did in his earlier movie. Comedic situations are set up naturally and the payoffs are gently delivered, spiced with a delicate wit and a lived-in authenticity. The movie's most satisfying comedic moments are the scenes with Gianni and his mother (Valeria De Franciscis, who also played his mother in Mid-August Lunch). Gianni is trying to convince his well-off mother to sign off a chunk of her money to him, but she instead spends most of her days downing expensive champagne with her poker-playing friends. Her lackadaisical attitude toward Gianni's plight only adds to his late-life sluggishness. He may be 60, but he's still treated like a child by mama.

Despite echoing Fellini's 8 ½ and Woody Allen, Di Gregorio is his own artist, and it doesn't feel like a retread. In addition, unlike Allen's recent, enjoyable yet trivial, Rome-set To Rome with Love, The Salt of Life shimmers with the sunbaked energy and nonchalance of a lifelong inhabitant of the city, one who simply captures his home with an unfussy confidence. This is a warm, modest treat.