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Three out of Five stars
Running time: 99 mins

A coming-of-age tale from young Italian director Alice Rohrwacher in which Italian society and the Catholic Church are explored through the eyes of an awkward 12 year old girl.

What’s it all about?
12 year old Marta has just moved with her mother and older sister to a town in Calabria, Southern Italy. Her mother works long hours and her sister is constantly on her back. On the awkward side of adolescence, Marta spends most of her time alone, apart from when she goes to Sunday school, where as is expected in the very religious local community, she is preparing for confirmation. There she starts to probe the world around her, questioning the meaning behind the religious phrases and prayers espoused by her teacher and observing the shady political manoeuvrings of local Priest Father Mario.

The Good
Marta’s sense of dislocation is acute throughout, aided by newcomer Yile Vianello’s convincing and very natural turn as the awkward girl. The film’s muted cinematography aptly captures the grey, crumbling, down at heel nature of this working-class town. The many contemplative scenes showing Marta as outsider observing the town and its inhabitants are particularly well handled. These quiet snatched moments contrasting well with the busy, often quite comical scenes inside the Church where animated Catechism teacher Santa tries in vain to engage her bored group of teenagers, while Father Mario at best only feigns the slightest of interest in his parish.

The Bad
This is a more mysterious and elliptical coming of age tale than most. Rohrwarcher’s camera stays close to Marta but her subtle portrait is ultimately a little too opaque – unlike the Dardennes’ current film A Kid with A Bike, about a boy on the cusp of puberty finding his way in the world, here we never really know what makes Marta tick. As Roharwarcher widens her gaze to the local religious community, patiently observing their rituals and gatherings, she occasionally mocks these easy targets a little too much. However this isn’t a film that’s simply critical of the Catholic faith itself, just of the corruption and bland traditions that the Church enforces.

Worth Seeing?
Odd adolescents are a stalwart of cinema, but in her feature debut, Rohrwarcher never quite penetrates the depths of her shy teen protagonist, whose behaviour is sometimes a bit too textbook strange. Luckily, a good performance from newcomer Yile Vianello as Marta holds much of the film together.