Roberto (Marco D’Amore), owner of the security company that has rigged Forte dei Marmi with enough cameras to power a studio, likens the raked sand on the private beaches and overly-orchestrated facade to a picture postcard. Paradise is hardly a setting conducive to crime, but this is a winter tale set in the off-season. When violence does turn up on a neighbor’s front stoop, the mini-monitor where once a doorbell stood reveals Maria (Beatrice Grannò), a battered young woman pleading for help. On his way home from answering the call, Roberto pulls over a drunk driver whom he recognizes as Dario (Giulio Pranno), the son of his ex-lover Elena (Valeria Bilello). This is not only writer-director Peter Chelsom’s first foreign language film, it also marks a bold departure from his bread and butter genres: comedy and romance (Hear My Song, Funny Bones, Town & Country). Roberto also suffers from insomnia. What’s keeping him up at night? In part, it’s the discovery that his 17-year-old daughter Angela (Ludovica Martino) is having an affair with Stefano (Silvio Muccino), her college professor. There’s much to predict among the melodrama, most notably the identity of the true villain in the piece, but that’s not enough to discourage viewership. Besides the obvious entertainment reasons, parents should show this to every potential bad egg in the land. It’s impossible to hide from technology, and this engaging tale of how technology is used to solve a crime should make even the rottenest of eggs think twice before committing one. (2021) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.