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‘Diciannove’ Review: A Vivid, Humane Evocation of What It’s Like to Be 19 Years Old, With the World at Your Feet and Over Your Head
Produced by Luca Guadagnino, Giovanni Tortorici's honest, intelligent coming-of-age study 'Diciannove' resists tidy arcs and objectives.
Produced by Luca Guadagnino, for whom Tortorici previously worked as an assistant director, “Diciannove” (Italian for “nineteen,” and apparently being kept as the international title) seems like familiar fare on paper: another coming-of-age study centered on a coltish but charismatic teen with inchoate desires, big ideas and much to discover on all fronts. The film introduces us to Leonardo on the brink of what should be a formative life change: packing his bags to leave the family home in Palermo for London, where he’s due to start a business degree, as his mother (Maria Pia Ferlazzo) frets with the neurotic air of an imminent empty-nester. Taking a room in her dingy but central Hoxton apartment, he’s initially swirled up in Arianna’s big-city lifestyle of clubbing, binge-drinking and casual sex, though the glow wears off soon, and his naïvete is exposed: He can’t hold his liquor, and his housekeeping abilities are a veritable health hazard.
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