Mario is a 40-year-old street sweeper from Bologna who is addicted to pornography. During
the month of August Mario remains in the city despite it becoming essentially a ghost town
as the population leaves for the summer holidays. He lives in the city centre, the ‘old town’,
with his elderly mother. She has been confined to a wheelchair after suffering a stroke, and
requires the constant care of Olga, a 50-year-old Romanian nurse who looks after her while
Mario is at work. It is during this period that Mario encounters Agata, a young single mother,
a meeting as random as it is unexpected. Mario’s life until now has been monotonous and
lonely, but this is about to change. As Agata bursts into his life like a hurricane, Mario will
have to come to terms with long- dormant feelings and emotions. —RIFF