The Young Observant (2019)

The Young Observant: Directed by Davide Maldi. With Mario Burlone, Lorenzo Carpani, Enrico Colombini, Cristian Dellamora. A fourteen-year-old boy’s life in the mountains is about to end as he is soon to enroll in catering school. The institution he attends is renowned for its strict rules: the lessons on cooking, dining etiquette, and religion make each student daily confront their weaknesses, insecurities and skills.

“Silent, introverted, absent-minded 14 year-old Luca is about to radically change his quiet life as a countryside boy as he enrolls in a traditional Italian catering school, which has obviously seen better days but still keeps up strict discipline and ancien-régime etiquette, such as measuring the exact length of space between chairs around a table, the centimeters allowed for growing sideburns, or the correct way to wipe the inside of a glass (clockwise!).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDavide Maldi, director and cameraman, centers his slow-paced documentary completely on Luca and his internal battle against boredom, conformity and arbitrary discipline. Lucau0026#39;s mind is far away in classes, be it French, Law or how to perfectly fold a table cloth or a napkin. As his grades and performance worsen, the confrontation with his teachers is inevitable: will Luca bend his will?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThough passive-aggressive Luca is the opposite in temperament from Lou Castelu0026#39;s explosive, fiery character in Marco Bellocchiou0026#39;s u0026quot;Fists in the Pocketu0026quot;, thereu0026#39;s something equally rebellious about his looks and soul (hence the title of my review). The inquisitive brow, defiant grin and tense body reminded me of Castel, as well as Lucau0026#39;s habit of testing the limits of those in power and — you guessed it — keeping his tight fist hiding in the pocket of his perfectly pressed trousers (an absolute nay-nay posture, as we learn along).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn a broader context, the film is also about the near absurdist attempt to preserve old, aristocratic, terribly démodé traditions in a country badly damaged by economic problems, unemployment, political cataclysms and the apparently insoluble regional and class conflicts that Italian films have been telling us about for the last 80 years.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhile the subject is original, curious and attractive, and Maldi is himself a young observant with a very keen eye, Lucau0026#39;s slowly folding inside himself makes the film drag in bits — surprisingly not in the unbelievable disciplinarian routines but in the long scenes of Luca in class or by himself in the woods. Minus some 15 or 20 minutes, u0026quot;The Young Observantu0026quot; would have been really good.”