The spirit of the new wave is revived (albeit in apolitical form) by the 72-year-old Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor, Last Tango in Paris) in his new film. With a light touch, he sketches delicate portraits in this nuanced two-character drama.
Lorenzo (Jacopo Olmo Antinori) is a misanthropic 14-year-old who has difficult relationships with his parents and peers. He plans to escape these troubled entanglements for a week of solitude in his building’s abandoned basement, with his music, books and ant farm (a fun alternative to TV). To placate his overwrought parents, Lorenzo tells them that he is going away on a ski trip with school friends. For an entire week, he plans to be free of the conflicts and pressures of his everyday life, and escape reality.
However, his peace is disturbed by an unexpected visit from his twenty something half-sister, Olivia (Tea Falco), who shows up, semi-stoned, playing an Italian version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity and demanding him to help her come down.
