Little White Lies by Emily Maskell
It’s an accomplished directorial debut, focusing on the power of faith and the strength of motherhood to become symbiotic beasts fighting for dominance in its hero’s mind during her quest for autonomy.
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Italy, France, Slovenia · 2022
1h 29m
Director Laura Samani
Starring Celeste Cescutti, Ondina Quadri
Genre Drama
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Italy, 1900. Young Agata’s baby is stillborn and so, condemned to Limbo. Agata hears about a place in the mountains, where infants can be brought back to life for just one breath, to baptize them. She undertakes a voyage with her daughter’s small body hidden in a box and meets Lynx, a solitary boy who offers to help her. They set off on an adventure which will enable both to come close to a miracle that seems impossible.
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Little White Lies by Emily Maskell
It’s an accomplished directorial debut, focusing on the power of faith and the strength of motherhood to become symbiotic beasts fighting for dominance in its hero’s mind during her quest for autonomy.
It is a film about a personal grief which gradually, step by step, takes on a mythic resonance. This is a new and vibrant talent to be watched.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
Samani’s film-making language has consistency and urgency, and there is an interesting streak of atheism that goes alongside this movie’s spiritual aura.
Celeste Cescutti leads a parochial cast that is largely unprofessional, with a fierce performance that bosses and grounds the film’s magic realist themes.
The Observer (UK) by Wendy Ide
With its colour palette of mossy greens, terracotta and earth tones, and its matter-of-fact approach to themes of folklore and mysticism, this gorgeous first feature from Italian director Laura Samani is as enchanting as it is unusual.
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