News

"I want someone to look at me... and show me who I am." Film Movement has revealed an offiical trailer for an indie Italian coming-of-age film titled The Beautiful Summer, arriving on VOD to watch this summer. Not to be confused with this year's French indie favorite Last Summer. This Italian film premiered at the 2023 Locarno Film Festival last year, and it also played at the Chicago and Denver Film Fests. The sapphic romance focuses on Ginia, who's 17, as she experiences the ecstasy & turmoil that come with the mysterious journey into adulthood. Meeting with Amelia confronts her with new and shocking emotions. But only by recognizing this love, she can be herself... "Featuring tender performances by Yile Yara Vianello and Deva Cassel, director Laura Luchetti's latest coming-of-age drama showcases 'the intertwined complexities of first love and first sexual experiences, highlighting the inevitable messiness and poignancy of adolescence.'" The...

The Beautiful Summer (La Bella Estate) lives up to its title: The screen is alive with the sensual glow of balmy days and nights — and, specifically, with the youthful giddiness that the warmest season rouses. In the uneven period drama, a country girl starts to make her way in the big city and is drawn into a bohemian circle, intrigued by the impetuous painters who turn out to be cads and especially by a free-spirited, sad-eyed model. The romance at the movie’s core doesn’t deliver the intended emotional impact, but there’s a tender, potent resonance to other aspects of the story.

“Freely inspired” by the 1940 novel of the same name by Cesare Pavese, the third feature from writer-director Laura Luchetti (Twin Flower) sometimes slides into cliché or loses momentum, but it also offers some sharp coming-of-age observations and a delectable physicality, and it’s anchored by the...