Review: Under The Riccione Sun
The Skinny:
Are you nostalgic for that season of Saved By The Bell where the gang works at the Malibu Sands resort? Do you enjoy the music of Thegiornalisti? If you answered yes to both of these questions, then this 2020 Netflix romantic comedy is made for you. The streaming giants continue to seek out the young adult demographic by distributing a film that is set in the same location and featuring several of the same themes as their series Summertime, which was released less than two months prior.
The Background:
The film takes its title from the name of a song by Italian indie rock band, Thegiornalisti. In fact, the movie is directed by Younuts!, the duo responsible for the music video of the eponymous song. The soundtrack includes that track and several others from Thegiornalisti, and even features their former frontman, Tomasso Paradiso, as himself in an important cameo towards the end of the film. As with any project in Paradiso’s orbit, the film is chock full of 80s nostalgia. Enrico Vanzina, who directed the very similar Sapore di Mare (itself with a title based on Gino Paoli’s hit song “Sapore di Sale“) in 1983, wrote the scriptment.
The setting of the film is Riccione, a beach town in the region of Emilia-Romagna along the Adriatic coast. Along with Rimini just to the north, Riccione is an extremely popular location to spend the summer, especially for Italians in the northern and central part of the country. Think of it like an Ocean City, Myrtle Beach, or Clearwater Beach with swankier hotels and more nightclubs. This has made it the hot place to be for young people, and it creates an evocative locale for music videos and films like this one!
If you’ve seen Summertime, you’ll wonder why there needed to be two projects released by the same distributor just a few months apart, but you should be able to enjoy both. Summertime is a more diverse and daring for an Italian production (featuring an italian of african descent in the starring role and LGBT storylines), and the fact that it is a series means that it has more story to tell. Under the Riccione Sun is a little less complex, but maybe a little more fun.
The Plot:
A southerner (Cristiano Caccamo) with dreams of making it big takes a job as a lifeguard and tries to resist temptations to cheat on his girlfriend (Rosanna Sapia) with her bestfriend (Claudia Tranchese) . A mother (Isabella Ferrari; Baby) and her blind son (Lorenzo Zurzolo; Baby) arrive for a summer by the sea, but both unexpectedly find love during the season (Ludovica Martino, Luca Ward) . A lovestruck loser (Saul Nanni) is assisted by his roommate (Matteo Oscar Giuggioli) and wise old landlord (Andrea Roncato) in his attempt to escape the friendzone with a long time crush (Fotinì Peluso). There’s even a Screech like character (Davide Calgaro) that serves as comic relief and a strangely obsessed volleyball team captain (Giulia Schiavo). Look, this isn’t exactly Dante’s Divine Comedy, people.
The Bottom Line:
Young Adult romantic comedies aren’t really my thing, but while you’re stuck at home during a pandemic and surrounded by heavy stories of societal unrest, it’s nice to escape to a simple world where the stakes are low and the scenery is beautiful. Clocking in at 100 minutes, the friendships and relationships that develop over this very condensed summer seem rushed, and with such a large cast you can sometimes completely forget about a character until they pop up on the screen after a fifteen minute absence. But it’s best not to overanalyze it. If you think something is about to happen next, spoiler alert … you’re right! Just sit back and enjoy (with as many people in the room as possible) the sights and sounds of this lighthearted comedy. It is far less ambitious than even its spiritual cousin, Summertime, but sometimes you don’t want a movie that asks you to think deeply. When you’re in the mood to log onto Netflix and turn off your brain, Under the Riccione Sun is there for you.
Under the Riccione Sun earns two and a half out of five pizzas.
