Nino

Watched at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

The narrative isn't something grand or special as it has been explored in the past. Yet, Pauline Loquès direction, atmosphere and strong lead performance from Théodore Pellerin still crafts an emotional and engaging tale about a man dealing with a serious matter, while reconnecting loved ones and peers.

Throughout, the camerawork and production designs are good. It helps to establish the realistic nature and surroundings occurring within the characters and actions. Loquès showcases somewhat neo-realism direction on the characters dialogue, chemistry and conversations which was effective and engaging. I really did love the color presentation that is used to display the tone, setting and atmosphere.

As mentioned, the story is simple, and it does have some cheesy moments during emotional moments and dialogue. But it still worked because of the good directing, the strong performances and the good talent behind it's production.

Overall, it's a good emotional and engaging drama tale.