Un Bacio [One Kiss] *** (2016, Rimau Ritzberger Grillo, Valentina Romani, Leonardo Pazzagli) – Classic Movie Review 12,381

Director Ivan Cotroneo’s 2016 Italian film Un Bacio [One Kiss] tells the story of three teenagers who start an unusual, close friendship, and are rejected as outsiders by their school buddies, a role they proudly cultivate and claim.

It is a story of bullying and homophobia in schools. The film is a lot of fun and quite serious and thoughtful at the same time, satisfyingly provocative. The three main actors – Rimau Ritzberger Grillo, Valentina Romani, Leonardo Pazzagli – are most engaging, forming a compelling misfit love triangle, in the style of Jules et Jim.

Rimau Grillo Ritzberger plays 16-year-old openly gay Lorenzo, the new kid at school in the small northern Italian town of Udine. He has just been adopted from an orphanage in Turin, is loved, understood and cared for by his new foster parents (Thomas Trabacchi as Lorenzo’s father, Susy Laude as Lorenzo’s mother), and provokes his classmates with his extravagant behaviour and his flashy fashion. Valentina Romani plays sharp, smart, sassy Blu, fighting her image as a slut after having non-consensual sex with her boyfriend and three of his friends at the same time. Leonardo Pazzagli plays sporty basketball player Antonio, judged a silent loser as he is grieving over the death of his older brother, who appears as a ghost advising him.

The One Kiss [Un Bacio] of the title proves crucial, changing everything.

Leonardo Pazzagli as Antonio with his rifle and the ghost of his older brother looking over his shoulder.

There are some laughs, some tears, and even some singing and dancing. It is imaginative, freewheeling and entertaining. There is plenty of meat in this tasty stew. It all goes real well until its jarring, infuriatingly over-serious and melodramatic conclusion, which spells things out too obviously, provides a bit of a lecture, and ruins the film. It is such a likable film up to this point, that is upsetting that they chuck it all away at the end.

The screenplay by Ivan Cotroneo and Monica Rametta is based on the novel by Cotroneo, published in 2010 by Bompiani.

The cast are Rimau Grillo Ritzberger as Lorenzo, Valentina Romani as Blu, Leonardo Pazzagli as Antonio, Simonetta Solder as Blu’s mother, Giorgio Marchesi as Blu’s father, Thomas Trabacchi as Lorenzo’s father, Susy Laude as Lorenzo’s mother, Laura Mazzi as Antonio’s mother, Sergio Romano as Antonio’s father, and Alessandro Sperduti.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,381

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com