Diciannove 😐, dir. Giovanni Tortorici, 2024, Italy/UK, 108 min., in Italian with English subtitles, some parts in English without subtitles
Wednesday, June 25, 2025, 7:45 pm, Roxie Theater
⚠️ content advisory: flashing lights, drug/alcohol abuse, talk of self-harm
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| Diciannove |
A 19-year-old (“diciannove” is Italian for 19) flits from Palermo to London to Siena, changing universities and majors like it’s nothing. He is mostly awkward and standoffish, except for occasional nights of drunken clubbing. He gets obsessed with 19th-century analysis of 13th-century literature, rejecting the johnny-come-latelies of the 20th or God forbid the 21st.
He doesn’t know where he’s going, and we don’t know, either. It’s all just an incoherent mishmash of scenes, until near the end there is at least some connection woven between some of the threads, although without tying off any of them.
The visuals are beautiful, especially the various Italian landscapes, but there really isn’t a narrative through line, making for an unsatisfying story. The director is a protégé of Luca Guadagnino, but this film has none of the charm, none of the insight, and none of the appeal of Call Me by Your Name. Diciannove is not horrible, but definitely a “Meh.”
• IMDb • trailer • official website • coming to theaters in July/August •
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