Director Mario Matone’s Nostalgia is a gritty, realist film using the parable of the two thieves to tell the story of one man’s quest to reckon with his past.
Returning to Naples after a 40-year absence, Felice, played by Pierfrancesco Favino, makes an emotional visit to his elderly mother (Aurora Quattrocchi).
After she dies, Felice embarks on a melancholy return to his old haunts.
In flashback, we revisit the places where he hung out with his childhood friend, Oreste (Tommaso Ragno).
In phone calls home to his wife Arlette (Sofia Essaidi), we discover that despite his successful life in Cairo, where he owns a construction company, Felice has decided to relocate and buy a home in his old neighbourhood of Rione Sanità.
There’s more to Felice’s wistful reminiscing.
He is determined to meet with Oreste, his ‘blood brother’, now the head of the local Camorra mafia.
The local priest Don Luigi Rega (Francesco Di Leva), who spends each day tirelessly fighting the influence of the Camorra mafia on Rione Sanità’s youth, tries to convince Felice to leave Naples to go back to Cairo.
There’s a pervasive sense of foreboding as Felice wanders the once familiar streets.
There’s a constant feeling of being watched, a menacing sense each time motorbikes pass him in the street.
There’s also a sense of frustration.
We question why he is so determined to stay despite threats and warnings.
Why does he keep on with his perilous quest?
Why this sudden need to reclaim his past?
While we realise that Felice’s fate is somehow bound to Oreste, and we know what’s coming as he walks the streets awaiting his destiny, the end still comes as a shock.
Nostalgia was screened as part of the Italian Film Festival, showing in Melbourne at various locations until October 12.
For information and updates, please visit italianfilmfestival.com.au

• Review by Kathyn Keeble