Sunday at Il Posto Accanto

It's August 8, 2021, and in the Lower East Side of New York City, in the early aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, a local restaurant is buzzing with life, once again becoming a hub where friends, neighbors, and even strangers are reconnecting and finding their way back into the world together.

At Il Posto Accanto, a real restaurant on East 2nd Street run by Julio and his wife Beatriz (and starring here as themselves), it’s as much about creating a space for people to come together as it is the delicious food, more about putting smiles on faces than cash in the register. This philosophy is what lies at the heart of Sunday at Il Posto Acconto, writer/director Seth Rosenfeld’s touching drama that looks to celebrate the beauty of human connection versus the realities of the pandemic through a series of heartwarming and authentic vignettes skillfully woven around a more poignant central narrative, showing just how wonderful - and at times crazy -  people can be.

Julio and Beatriz task Sixto (Rasuk), the seemingly playboy freeloader treating their home as a hotel, with finally getting friend Danny (Hoch) out of the house and back with them. However, while most have embraced the liberation back into the world with gusto, for Danny, the scars left from everything that happened in the preceding eighteen months run a bit too deep, creating problems for his marriage, his health and his sanity, while Sixto himself fears going back to his own home, filled with the awful memories of isolation while infected.

This dramatic spine of the film takes a while to find its feet and purpose within it, unsure where its leading us at first, but both Rasuk and Hoch are admirable and persistent in their performances, feeling true and captivating especially in their candid confrontations with each other, lamenting the kinds of thoughts, fears and doubts that anyone who lived through the pandemic will be all too familiar with, while the film also uses this space to touch upon other aspects such as misinformation and fearmongering. By the time we get to Danny’s eventual exodus from his apartment into the big wide world, the time spent with these characters pays off in its boisterous final third.

What is best about the film is how it simply flows, the whole thing has this kind of a loose feel about it, never too worried about structure or plot points it has to hit. This off-the-cuff nature as we step in and out of each intriguing little vignette, jumping from table to table to get a few more sentences to illuminate more and more about each of these fascinating and diverse patrons, really makes the piece feel alive. It’s a film that makes its point and hits your feels with aplomb, full of heart and love all the while bringing to life the indistinguishable character of such a unique city as New York.

Ultimately, Sunday at Il Posto Acconto is a brilliantly touching story about resilience and how people need people to not just survive but to thrive, something we perhaps need a little reminding of from time to time.