El verano de Martino

"L'estate di Martino" could have been a clichéd Coming-of-Age film, were it not for a few small details that distinguish it from countless other films of this genre. On the one hand, the tragic setting in which it takes place, in the background, the downing of an aircraft in Ustica and a terrorist attack in Bologna. Facts that are somewhat forcibly linked to the fate of the protagonists...

However, if there is anything of value in this screenplay, it is the constant presence in the story of the beach where it was almost entirely filmed. The best that can be said about director Massimo Natale is that he captures the whole essence of the seaside. From the beautiful sea scenes to those on the sand. The director's reluctance to stray from the seaside is commendable.

For all the rest, "L'estate di Martino" is everything an "initiation" film "should be." A lonely and misunderstood adolescent finds outside the home the father figure he cannot find within. And this new father figure also finds in the young man the memory of the son he has estranged from himself. And of course, the discovery of love and the joy/pain of this discovery.

But there is little else. The worst remains. My personal opinion; there was no need to use the legend of "Dragut" as a transition. Sometimes a voice-over, sometimes flashbacks, are nothing but a significant hindrance, giving a rather misplaced touch of poetic fable. And just like its protagonist, the film is much more at ease when it crosses the fences that separate the beach from the rest of the world.

By the way; I don't know how they persuaded Treat Williams, but it feels good to see such little Hollywood surprises in independent, low-budget European cinema.