DARKER THAN MIDNIGHT (2014) Sebastiano Riso

Provincialism, a characteristic of Italian cinema that I usually can't stand, is one of the most successful things about this film.

A fascinating and mysterious Catania is the setting for the wanderings of Davide, a very young boy who, to escape a family that doesn't welcome his homosexuality, decides to live on the streets with a group of other kids. In fact, the entire story is inspired by the life of Fuxia , a drag queen and popular activist in the Italian gay scene, one of the founders of Mucca Assassina .

The story isn't very new, so obviously, the next step is prostitution and the entrance into a world of hustlers, clients, pimps, and shady and dangerous situations ( a beautiful sequence shot of the seedy area of Catania with the protagonist exploring the enchanted world of the night ). The family is ambivalent, with a loving mother and a terrifying father who forces him to take hormone injections to make Davide more virile.

The acting is terrible, it ruins everything. The already weak story, about a character so young who manages to live away from home (his age is never given, but it seems very close to 14 ), is completely nullified by actors who are never believable, always superficial, with sloppy attitudes that never give their characters depth and make them dangerously resemble caricatures ( above all , Pippo Delbono , truly unsuccessful in the role of the pimp ).

I couldn't figure out the meaning of the title.