Life is a water polo game and the swimming pool a theater of Italian ideology in this at times outrageous allegory. As the writer, director and star of his own films, Nanni Moretti is upheld in his native Italy as one of the most acute and witty chroniclers of the shifting local landscape, whipping politics, religion and childhood memories into his own special blend. In Red Lob he plays Michele, a thirtyish Communist ideologue suffering from amnesia after an auto accident. His understandable identity crisis is all the more confusing when he is mysteriously drafted to play in a water-polo match. At the poolside, and in the pool, his memories-childhood traumas, the "young socialist" student days, his stint as a party spokesman-slowly resurface and intermingle. Amidst the goals and dunks, Michele engages in angst-ridden, heated political discussions with teammates, old friends, a journalist, Catholics, the crowd and himself, among others. A TV broadcast of Dr. Zhivago and a Bruce Springsteen song help round out Red Lob's ironic take. The Communist times are a-changing indeed, and Moretti's biting, savvy film is sure to garner lots of attention. --Brian Gordon