3.5 stars. Rated TV-MA, for profanity, drug use and fleeting nudity
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 8.7.20
Since it’s not possible to enjoy anything approaching an actual summer vacation, we can experience one vicariously, via Under the Riccione Sun.
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| Marco (Saul Nanni) has been sweet on Guenda (Fotini Peluso) for years, but she couldn't care less; she views him solely as a pal who gives great advice on how to reunite with her former boyfriend. |
This Italian charmer — debuting on Netflix — is a standard-issue romance, with budding relationships and unrequited love percolating among attractive, sun-drenched young twentysomethings enjoying a week of leisure at Riccione, a beach community on Italy’s Adriatic coast. So yes: Cinematographer Davide Manca spends considerable time surveying hunky guys and gorgeous gals in tight trunks and the briefest of bikinis. (An impressively wide range of the latter is provided by costume designer Valentina Mezzani.)
I actually approached this film with curiosity, wondering if Italian filmmakers would handle this genre with more grace than we Americans. Answer: Absolutely. Where most domestic examples succumb to coarse vulgarity and exaggerated characters, directors Niccolò Celaia and Antonio Usbergo — operating under the nom de film of “YouNuts” — take a gentler approach.
The result actually is rather sweet, allowing for the liberal application of F-bombs, which these young folks employ as default adjectives, adverbs and (yes) verbs.
Manca’s opening tableau is a stunner: an overhead traveling shot of Riccione’s amazingly huge beach expanse, replete with thousands (!) of geometrically precise umbrellas, cabanas and folding chairs. This is the awesome setting into which the writers — Caterina Salvadori, Enrico Vanzina and Ciro Zecca — pour their characters, and it’d be hard to imagine anything more sparkling and seductive.
Would-be musician Ciro (Cristiano Caccamo) arrives first, hoping to get noticed in some sort of performance competition. When that fails to pan out, he stumbles into employment as a lifeguard, much to the delight of countless cuties. (It should be mentioned that, at 31, Caccamo looks a bit too old for his role.)
Ciro has a girlfriend back home — Violante (Rosanna Sapia) — who routinely checks on him via texts and phone calls. She has good reason; he attracts all manner of female attention, none more aggressive than the flirty Mara (Giulia Schiavo), captain of a beach volleyball team.
