“Sunday Sauce” is a Holly Shorts entry from Matt Campanella, who both directed, wrote and stars as Marco. Anthony Campanella produced and Matt’s real life grandmother, Vincenza Campanella, plays his grandmother at the Italian dinner party that is the center of the story.
If a dinner party sounds drab and dull, now might be the time to mention that the first third of this 14.25 film features Matthew Risch (“Modern Family,” “How to Get Away With Murder”) as Gino, whacking off in the bathroom. He is sexting with a young gay guy he calls Twunk. Gino definitely looks hot, sweaty, bearded, and uncomfortable throughout. His Catholic faith finds him feeling repressed and guiltridden and gives credence to the saying, “Good old Catholic guilt. The gift that keeps on giving.” Many judgmental portraits of Jesus underscore the Catholic guilt he feels.
Cathy Moriarty (and DeNiro) in 1980’s “Raging Bull.”
Gino finally exits the bathroom, having decided to send a face shot to his anonymous sexting partner and begins preparing food for a sumptuous Italian dinner, presided over by Cathy Moriarty as Nancy. Moriarty is the glue holding this short and this family together. She is an intense presence and has worked steadily since her 1980 nomination as Best Supporting Actress opposite Robert DeNiro in “Raging Bull.” Moriarty was only 18 years old at the time, and lush. For those too young to remember her, a picture of her in her prime is essential. Her acting chops are impressive. She also had an iconic role in “Neighbors,” which I highly recommend.I attended a zoom press conference for a 2020 film of Cathy Moriarty’s entitled “Shooting Heroin.”
That film was shot in the middle of Pennsylvania in the winter in 12 days on a shoestring budget and was very much a family endeavor. Moriarty was just as essential in it as she is in this 14.25 minute short. And this film, too, seems to be a family endeavor. Moriarty is the hostess for “Sunday Sauce’s” dinner party and there is a spirited conversation with young Francesca, who is 19, pregnant and unmarried. Nicole Ehringer, who plays Francesca, has a boyfriend (Chad) but Nancy (Moriarty’s character) is obviously trolling for more suitable potential life mates for Francesca. Hence the invitation to Marco and his Nonna to come to dinner.
Francesca (Nicole Ehinger) in “Sunday Sauce” at HollyShorts.
That effort to find a man for the pregnant Francesca reminded me of the film “Love with the Proper Stranger” (Natalie Wood, Steve McQueen) where Natalie’s close-knit Italian family is constantly trying to find a mate for her, since she is also with child. I recently watched the 1963 film for free on YouTube for the first time in 60 years. I was amused to see that Tom Bosley of “Happy Days” portrayed the young Italian man Natalie’s family thought might make a more suitable mate than Steve McQueen (in his prime—his last romantic film.)
When the young Marco and his Grandmother arrive, Gino is horrified to see that his young guest is the very same gay partner, Twunk,that Gio has been sexting with in the bathroom.The rest of the plot (such as it is) reiterates the concept of queer identity and the repression of same in culture and religion. There was a slight injury to Gino’s hand when he grabs the hot pasta sauce pot without a pot-holder and what happens to his hand after that instantly summoned “District 9” and Sharlto Copley. Again, tonally, somewhat at odds with the themes of family, repressed identity and faith.
I would insert a thought here about how queer identity is not that repressed any more. If you haven’t seen the closing night 2025 SXSW film “On Swift Horses,” there’s one example of homosexuality that is very open. It featured a currently hot young star, Jacob Elordi (“Saltburn”) in the gay love scenes.
However, with Trump 2.0 in full swing, stay tuned. Apparently U.S. military records are currently being purged of any mention of “gay” or “homosexual.” “Don’t ask, don’t tell” of the Clinton years is starting to look absolutely progressive in DJT’s America. Russia is not a gay-friendly country—nor are Iran and/or many others that the U.S.’s current leader openly admires. I get the sinking feeling that diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) will continue to be under intense assault for (at least) the next 3 and ½ years.
So my first impulse was to say that Gino shouldn’t feel as much guilt and repression as he obviously does. But that point-of-view has given way to recognizing the cultural norms under which Gino was raised, as well as acknowledging the cultural norms regarding sexuality that are being thrust upon us in 2025 America. Most of the progress in many areas since at least the sixties (and I’ve been reviewing since 1970)—a woman’s right to have control over her own body, racial equality, free speech, diversity—is in the cultural crosshairs right now in the United States. So Gino’s fear of reprisal and good old Catholic guilt are not without a real-life basis and merited.
Gino’s repressed sexuality bubbling over as it does when he finally meets the boy of his dreams, may be timelier than it seemed upon first viewing. All I could think of after the denouement of the plot was how uncomfortable and sweaty and hassled poor Gino looked throughout the entire film. Cathy Moriarty’s line about the death of romance applied. (“Today there’s no romance. They don’t do it like that no more.”)
The original score by Lorenzo Barcella helped escalate the tension in this tale of family, faith and repressed identity. The press notes say, if you’re queer or Catholic, this film about hiding, revealing and transforming, may resonate. Pitching it as “The Sopranos” a la Cronenberg worked.
But, for me, introducing the comatose Maria—an oddball touch— added humor that didn’t really blend that well with most of the film’s messaging. The cinematography (Stefan Nachmann) was good and the Italian aria playing throughout added to the drama (although it also reminded me that Donald J. Trump also has a thing for playing dramatic Italian arias.)
Dinner with the Catholic Campanellas in “Sunday Sauce” was interesting, even if the odd-ball inclusion of the comatose Maria and the lobster-clawed Gino seems like it would be appropriate to a different movie with a different tone. But Maria does get to utter the film’s last line and the incomparable Cathy Moriarty is, once again, the glue for this family dramedy.
