NOSTALGIA

Director: Mario Martone

2022, Italy, 118min., NR

Language: Italian with English subtitles

Screenwriter: Ermanno Rea, Mario Martone, Ippolita Di Majo

Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino, Francesco Di Leva, Sofia Essaïdi, Tommaso Ragno

 

“Nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return.” – author Milan Kundera. After leaving his childhood home of Napoli to live for 40 years in Egypt, Pierfrancesco Favino returns home, having converted to Islam and married an Egyptian woman. He is welcomed back by his frail mother and explores his hard-up neighborhood of Rione Sanità. But unfinished business can stir up old conflicts, as when Pierfrancisco confesses to a priest that as teens, he and his friend Oreste pulled off a robbery and Oreste killed the shop owner. The priest tells him not to reconnect with Oreste, who has become a local boss of the violent Camorra. But nostalgia drives Pierfrancisco to reconnect with his friend, no matter the consequences. Italy’s oldest film festival (The Silver Ribbon) awards celebrated director Mario Martone’s movie prizes for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Screenplay. “ This bittersweet crime story is also a homecoming love letter to Naples.” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian. Four stars.