Sicilian Ghost Story - Okay

Starring: Julia Jedikowska, Gaetano Fernandez, Corinne Musallari
Director: Fabio Grassadonia
Runtime: 2 hours, 2 minutes
Crime | Drama | Fantasy | 2017

St. Louis Film Festival Review

Synopsis: Against a heavy cloak of secrecy, a 12-year old girl smitten with her handsome classmate ventures deeper and deeper into the enchanted Sicilian forests to find him, unaware of just how thick is the mystery behind his strange disappearance.

Against her mother’s wishes, Luna falls in love with Giuseppe. Soon after, the young boy disappears. He is kidnapped by someone who knows his father (which reminded me a lot of All the Money in the World). Luna does not take this disappearance lightly. As the film progresses, she falls harder and harder into darkness. She truly believes that the love they have will bring him back and allow her to find him.

The movie itself really confused me, but I think that was the point. I’m still not 100% sure about the “ghost story” aspect of it, but I think I get it - don’t worry I won’t spoil it! Aside from that though, I’m still rearing my brain around what I’ve seen and I still don’t understand what I watched.

From the synopsis above (thanks IMDB), it seems that the forest has a big part in the creepiness that I watched on screen. I do have one thing to say about that forest though - why were there so many pets? Do ferrets really live in the wild or was this done on purpose for some reason for the storyline?

Regardless of my confusion, I thought the movie was dark and well filmed. I liked the main character in her role and could feel her love for him so intensely as she wouldn’t give up on him. Not sure how I feel about that ending though, I guess it’s fitting. I’ll give this one an “Okay” rating. It was a bit long for my taste, but really brought forth a lot of darkness for something that has “ghost story” in it’s title. (2.5/5)

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