''Sicilian Ghost Story'' is a 2017 Italian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza. It is based on the real-life "The White Knight" short story in the ''We Won't Be Confused Forever'' volume by Marco Mancassola. and was screened in the Critics' Week section at the

2017 Cannes Film Festival The 70th Cannes Film Festival took place from 17 to 28 May 2017, in Cannes, France. Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar was the president of the jury for the main competition. Italian actress Monica Bellucci hosted the opening and closing cerem ...

Plot

In a little Sicilian village at the edge of a forest, Giuseppe, a boy of 13, vanishes. Luna, his classmate who loves him, refuses to accept his mysterious disappearance. She rebels against the silence and complicity that surround her, and to find him she descends into the dark world which has swallowed him up and which has a lake as its mysterious entrance. Only their indestructible love will be able to bring her back alive.

Production

The film is inspired by true events and takes place in the 1990s in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. It is dedicated to the memory of Giuseppe Di Matteo, abducted in 1996 and then brutally killed on orders of

Sicilian Mafia The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a secret society, criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of ...

boss Giovanni Brusca in order to silence his father, a cooperating witness.

Reception

Critical response

''Sicilian Ghost Story'' opened the 56th Critics' Week at

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

on 18 May 2017. It was the first time an Italian film opened the Critics' Week, and received a ten-minute standing ovation. The film holds a 91% approval rating on review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 45 reviews with an average rating of 7.1/10. The site's consensus reads: "''Sicilian Ghost Story'' uses a horrific real-life story as the framework for a powerfully acted foray into surprisingly beguiling fantasy territory."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

assigned the film a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

''s review was outstandingly positive, stating that “with outstanding cinematography, underwater scenes and magical storytelling, the co-directors found a beautiful and strong way to tell such a tough story based on true events.” ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' described the film as a "Superb technical work transforms cruel reality into a fable with many ramifications," stating that "If Grassadonia and Piazza had simply retold the story, it would have been gripping enough, but they deepen the intensity and widen the meaning by letting the tale unfold in a strange filmic space between cruel reality and ghostly fantasy."

Awards and nominations

''Sicilian Ghost Story'' won the 63rd David di Donatello for Best Adapted Script.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sicilian Ghost Story 2017 films 2017 drama films Italian drama films 2010s Italian-language films Films about the Sicilian Mafia Films set in Sicily Films set in the 1990s Italian-language drama films Films produced by Nicola Giuliano