La mafia tue seulement en été

This Italian film is actually a bit of a comedy despite it being about the Mafia, or the Cosa Nostra or whatever you want to call them. Arturo is a native of Palermo where he learns early on that nothing is ever what it seems to be in Sicily. He learns too that many things can get you killed and so goes out of his way to avoid trouble.

Then he meets and falls for Flora and his whole life changes - except his seeming adoration of premier Giulio Andreotti. We follow him as he grows up on the troubled streets of Palermo where the increasing violence of the Mafia finally makes the people react and say they have had enough. This is all set against the ongoing attempts by Arturo to get the attention of Flora.

This is one of those films that manages to put a great big smile on your face whilst at the same time teaching you a bit about Sicilian political history. The actors are all great and Arturo as a child is played by Alex Bisconti who was a delight and as an adult by Pif who combined charm with vulnerability perfectly. I absolutely loved this and my version came with the option for English sub titles. It does the deal with the murders and assassinations so is far from being a full on comedy. It was though an absolute corker that should get wider distribution so more people can appreciate this Italian gem.

This is a nationally-acclaimed director debut of Italian's new triple-threat Pif, who directs, co-writes and stars in this satirical comedy, chronicling the turbulent mafia assassinations in Palermo from 1970s to 90s, through the eye of Arturo (played by Bisconti as a young boy and Pif himself as the grownup), who life has been significantly influenced by the local mafia activities, usually accompanied by Pif's smug voice-over, he even self-claims his own birth is thanks to a mafia shootout downstairs of his parents' apartment, although the animated scenes are riddle with biological errors, nevertheless, the jaunty atmosphere is pleasing enough to lure audience into the storytelling.

A consistent thread running through all the various but cursory political assassinations is Arturo's unrequited affection towards his classmate Flora (played by Antona as a child and Capotondi as the adult), arguably the film's most delightful parts come from the childhood period, Pif manages to depict a rather humorous scenario out of the horrendous events happening wantonly, a highlight is Arturo's immense worship towards Il Divo, Giulio Andreotti, to reflect how political figures can wreak major influence on a white-sheet soul. After almost one-hour screen time (the film only runs in a terse 90 minutes), Arturo and Flora's finally run into each other's lives in their adulthood, the sudden jump creates a dissonance between Pit and Bisconti, especially the latter infuses Arturo with cherubic cuteness and tangible earnestness, also in physical terms, there are no clue or whatsoever to indicate that they are the same person with 20 years of age differences, and the budding romance has been snuffed out to pave the way for a self-indulgent rom-com which feels so trivial and contrived under the current of what was actually going on at then.

Reaping 2 awards (BEST NEW DIRECTOR and David OF THE YOUTH for Pif) out of its overall 9 nominations in David DI DONATELLO Awards and many new director trophies in domestic award circuits in 2014, the film certainly can connect more towards those who are well versed in the real events of the region and can finally laugh about the resonances afterwards, but for audience out of Italy, it falls flat in its executions when compared to a similar triple threat Guillaume Gallienne from its neighbour France, with his fetching debut and CÉSAR crowner Me, MYSELF AND MUM (2013), maybe in a certain extent, it also frankly reveals the present cinematic creativity and soils of these two great countries (both have enormously rich contributions towards world cinema), and now sadly, a visible gap seems to be widened through recent years, if this film can be a serious winner of BEST DEBUT in a calendar year, it is not a good sign for the mired Italian contemporary cinema scenes, scintillating new blood is urgently wanting.

Don't expect "The Godfather" or Goodfellas" as this is supposed to be a comedy. Although can be quite bloody in parts.

The acting was ok but not terrific.

I can see this movie appealing to the country of origin but it does not hold up outside there.

The comedy was there but doesn't really come off most of the time.

This is a pretty little movie about Italian mafia made by Palermo's own Pif, famous Italian TV personality who grew up experiencing most of the events dramatized in the film. The story is nice and makes fun of the mafia while avoiding to minimize the huge problem it was and it is even today. Too bad the good aspects end here. The main problem here are the actors: almost every actor in the movie performed poorly, and I guess most of them aren't actors at all. This could be good if the "non- actors" would have had smaller or easier parts, but as it is, it doesn't work at all. Sorry to say the biggest letdown were the kids. There is a constant amateur vibe and continuous poor delivery of performances. The directing is better but still quite mediocre, and do very little to compensate the dreadful actors.

Honestly, it started off fairly cute and fun. The young cast were great.

But it meandered to nowhere. Pointless. Try hard.

Interesting if you are a student of the Cosa Nostra, but otherwise give this mess a miss.