Synopsis
In Italy, there are people leading their everyday lives. Hurt people, petty people, sad people. Alongside the ruins of the Empire, the Colosseum, the Venetian canals, the Mediterranean sunshine, and the glory of the past, there still live the real people of flesh and blood. In Italy of the 21st century, just like everywhere else in the world, young men waste away their precious time playing the FIFA game on the PlayStation or talking about getting laid, old ladies cut off by their families are dying of loneliness and a serene world of a middle-class woman collapses with the news of her husband’s infidelity. And like anywhere else in the world, the life of a 9-year-old girl neglected by her parents is not really easy. In the middle of hot summer under the blazing August sun, on eve Christmas Eve when people are supposed to be filled with love and happiness, the truth is that people are still lonely, sad, empty, and slowly dying. C’est la vie. As E.M. Forster said, however, “Only Connect” is the message of this honest little film, full of unexpected connections between strangers, relief given and taken at the most unlikely moments. Thanks to those shiny moments, the gloomy, barren world suddenly gets painted with beautiful colors that make it more than bearable. (KIM Sun-hyung)