Scialla! by Francesco Bruni
The comic and tender heart of this film beats loud and clear through the serious story it tells. In a subtle way it says a lot about life, about relationships, about appearances and about today’s incredible changes in the structure of Italian life and the Italian family. And it does so with a beautifully sequenced script that keeps a smile on the viewer’s face and stimulates much rueful laughter.
Bruno Beltrame’s life has not turned out the way he expected. He has given up his hopes of being a writer and his career as a high school teacher. Now he ekes out a living as a ghostwriter for celebrities, his current client a porn star, and as a tutor for liceo students.
A student’s mother asks him to care for her son, Luca, a boy in a hoodie, who cares much more about his “street cred” (credibiltá di strada) than his studies. Bruno refuses. The woman, desperate for an opportunity in a life that has hit a wall, reveals herself as an old love and Luca as his son. For what takes place next, the question is: Who teaches what to whom?