Acciaio

After two of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time, Daniele Cipri’s E’ Stato Il FIglio and Luigi Lo Cascio’s La Citta’ Ideale, I guess I was due for a mediocre one. I confess to the proclivity to give Italian movies more of a break than most people, but when one isn’t great, it isn’t great.

Acciaoio isn’t great.

Based on a popular novel by Silvia Avallone, Acciaio is a story that people like me who grew up in the “rust belt” of the northern part of the US know all too well. If you live in a steel town, your grandparents, parents, and brothers work there, and you aren’t doing anything to prepare yourself for any thing else, you end up working at the mill. Teenage girls dream of leaving for a more exciting and rewarding life, but no one is encouraging them or showing the way, so only the strongest will make it out.

Good performances by Michele Riondino and two newcomers Anna Bellezza and Matilde Giannini make Acciaoio interesting, but not interesting enough. There just isn’t enough of a story, and the one that’s there is tired and told better elsewhere.
There are too many cliches, too many superfluous characters (Elena, played by Vittoria Puccini), and too little progression in the plot. There were a couple of themes worth persuing that were left underexplored and flapping in the salty sea air of the Sardinian location.

For example, the girls cling to each other in ways that seem at the same time unhealthy and crucial to their survival. I would like to have known more about the things that were causing problems in their relationship. Not having read the novel I’m unsure whether it is the fault of its author or screenwriter, the failure to take the powerful images that the movie has to offer and transform them into a story worth caring about.

Director: Stefano Mordini
Writers: Silvia Avallone (novel), Giulia Calenda (screenplay)
Stars: Vittoria Puccini, Michele Riondino, Francesco Turbanti, Anna Bellezza, and Matilde Giannini