Il quartiere dell'amore e della speranza

I caught this on TCM in December of 2021. Researching the film online proved frustrating. The title has several translations, including Street of Hope and Love. According to trivia, the director wanted to title the film The Boy Who Sold His Pigeon but was overruled by the film studio's executives.

Don't let its taut running time fool you: this film contains multiple layers of thought-provoking elements in a small package. It's well written. The cast does a fine job. The direction is very good, as is the cinematography and art direction, especially the location scouting. If I were to make one critique, it would be that the music didn't particularly seem fitting at times.

The basic story is about a teenage girl from a wealthy family who wants to help a poor boy by hooking him up with a job opportunity. To describe more would be to give away spoilers. It's important to know up front that it's not an uplifting film. One bit of trivia I learned, assuming it's true, is that the studio suspended the director for six months once they learned the movie was not the feel-good family film they were expecting.