A black romantic comedy: it’s a rare kind of genre blend, but this Italian stunner actually manages to pull it off with barely a hitch.
Expansive and playful, but nevertheless rich with history, The Mafia Kills Only In Summer is a fascinating effort from writer, director and star Pierfrancesco Diliberto (AKA Pif).
Since the moment of his conception, Arturo’s life has been inextricably linked with the presence of the mafia in his hometown of Palermo. We watch Arturo, hopelessly in love with his childhood classmate Flora, as he strives to win her affections through the ages, just as Palermo strives to free itself from the stranglehold of organised crime.
The Mafia Kills Only In Summer sits in the same strain of filmmaking as Amelié, bursting with character and at times painfully awkward in its honest depiction of youth. The young Arturo (Alex Bisconti) is very endearing, even if his later iteration (writer/director Pif) is a bumbling mess of a human being, and his classmates, too, are a pleasure. As for the title, it stems from a poor effort by Arturo’s hilarious dad (Rosario Lisma) to get his son to stop worrying and go to sleep.
Impressively, the film manages to find a balance between the sickly sweetness of Arturo’s failed attempts at courtship and the brutal reality of Palermo’s mafia wars. Time and again, men are gunned down in the street or blown up in their homes, and the camera does not shy away from these moments. After all, the film is based in reality: these were real people and real murders, and their resonance in the film is profound.
After careening through 20 years of the city’s history, things are wrapped up a tad abruptly, and though the ending sequence reminds us of the inestimable price that Palermo paid to rid itself of the mafia, it is difficult to put names to some faces when all is said and done. More time, too, could have been spent in the conclusion of the love story, though credit is due for making this a secondary concern in the film’s final act.
There’s plenty in this colourful romp to satisfy the hopeless romantics, history buffs, Europhiles and real crime fans among us. Broadly appealing and genuinely warm, it’s well worth seeking out this limited release.
4/5 stars
The Mafia Kills Only In Summer opens in cinemas on Thursday June 11.
