Plenty of documentaries capture the spirit of their subjects; far fewer get fully under the skin of the world that they inhabit. Victoria Fiore’s remarkable debut film, shot over four years in Naples, is one such picture. Boasting extraordinary access and lithe, instinctive cinematography that captures the unpredictable energy and distinctive dialect of the neighbourhood, it focuses on a streetwise kid, Entoni. Unruly and mischievous, Entoni dreams of movie stardom but his fate is linked to his family history: his chain-smoking grandmother, Dora, has ties to organised crime. This places him on the radar of the Italian authorities, who, in response to rising youth crime, have introduced a policy stating that kids deemed to be “at risk” can be removed from families with mafia links. Using a combination of verité and poetic reconstructions, Fiore paints a sobering portrait of a bright, personable kid whose destiny is preordained.
