[Editor's Note: I Am Love will open this Aug. 13 at the Tampa Theatre. For more reviews of the summer's hottest indies check out the Daily Loaf Movie Review Index.]

Tilda Swinton's appearance in a film tends to carry a connotation: The woman likes her films on the dark and uneasy side. So it's less than surprising when the opening credits of I Am Love fade away to winter and a massive Milanese household in the process of preparing a banquet.

The Rucci family is immediately alienating, and it's not because of their excessive wealth or family secrets. As a whole, these people and their problems are fairly run-of-the-mill. Instead, the film keeps us at a distance that makes us feel detached from the Ruccis — and I'm not sure that's intentional.

This article appears in Jul 29 – Aug 4, 2010.