With his first two feature films, “Gimme the Loot” (2013) and “Tramps” (2017), writer-director Adam Leon has carved out an admirable niche for himself as a chronicler of unsupervised and sometimes desperate urban teenagers. For his latest photo, “Italian Studies,” he stretches a bit, with mixed results.
The film begins in London, where Alina (Vanessa Kirby), who is a little more chic and a few degrees haughtier than the youngsters, goes to a party/recording session. She burns a cigarette from a young American woman outside, who asks if they have ever met.
–
Alina says no, but the young woman, and the film, say the opposite. A flashback shows Alina suddenly being stricken with amnesia while at a hardware store in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Abandoning her purse and her little dog, she wanders without goal or destination. She soon finds herself trailing behind a group of urban teenagers.
–
At one point in this episode, Alina is approached by a fan because she happens to be the author of an acclaimed short story collection called “Italian Studies”. Alina goes to a library to confirm this. There, she signs her own book. That she does this rather than using her discovery to figure out where she should be may confuse some viewers.
But “Italian Studies” is not, in spite of its settings often turned towards the documentary, a realistic history. His idea of time is multidimensional, as is his idea of form. Several sections of the film feature talking-head interviews with its characters, or perhaps the performers who play them. It’s hard to be sure. If the film does at times sound like its premise is “Renowned British actress Vanessa Kirby wanders into an Adam Leon film,” that could be entirely on purpose.
Italian studies
Unclassified. Duration: 1h21. In theaters and available for rental or purchase on Amazone, Apple TV and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
–
Not all news on the site expresses the views of the site, but we transmit this news automatically and translate it through programmatic technology on the site and not from a human editor.
–
–
