La Pivellina - Tizza Covvi / Rainer Frimmel (2009)

Everyone should see this film. Everyone should make this type of films. Human, simple, kind with its characters...  La Pivellina is like a cuddle.

The story is set somewhere in Rome, real people from the suburbs living in a trailer. Circus people who survive as they can. Patti and her red hair is all heart. Adorable. There are no words to describe how amazing that little girl is. The work they've done to make such a young child act is really impressive. She is the film.

Some people like to call it neo-neorealism, I prefer to see it as a fiction with the aesthetics of a documentary. It seems to have been filmed in a documentary way. The camera is a close witness, not an intrusive one, a friendly viewer in the middle of this world. It's like the camera of the Dardenne brothers... only gentle, warm and loving.

The sound is also borrowed from the documentary. Ambiences, the world they are in. Everything is diegetic. What I like the most is that there is no mood music, there's really no need for it.

The narrative is linear. The story and the characters are enough to keep us engaged. No need for any artifice.

I saw this film some time ago and it touched my heart. Months later, it still works. It's still as touching as the first time.

La Pivellina