Reseñas de la crítica

By turns wry and tragic, but never glib or mawkish, this is a visually rich and evocative drama about navigating the often treacherous path to adulthood.

While perhaps not the strongest entry in Crialese’s filmography, “L’immensità” certainly gives life to a beautifully affirming mother-son relationship that endures onscreen.

Unremarkable, naturalistic scenes of youthful adventuring fill out the coming-of-age drama.

Its kitsch exuberance is something you either buy or don’t, but it’s Crialese’s personal investment that makes L’Immensità distinctive, even when the themes of conformity, rebellion and the search for the true self are laid out with a kind of feelgood – and sometimes play-safe – obviousness.

I don’t think L’Immensità quite encompasses what it’s straining for and I’m not sure that Penélope Cruz is directed towards her greatest strengths, very good though of course she always is. But Crialese has fervency and style and those fantasy worlds might even have a touch of De Sica’s miraculous Milan.

L’Immensità is a child’s-eye-view portrait of domestic sadness and the craving for escape from it: its scenes have the tingling specificity of formative memory, where peculiar, attention-snagging details somehow serve as lightning rods for the emotions crackling overhead.

The latest picture from Emanuele Crialese takes its tonal cue from its central character. Like Clara, it is a beguiling and multifaceted entity. But at the same time, it is also erratic and occasionally frustrating.