Author's judgement:
A beautiful story of a young Italian soccer champion, of the most beautiful sport in the world: this is the film of the week. It's about The sample, directed by Leonardo D'Agostini and two promises and a certainty among the actors of our country: Andrea Carpenzano and Ludovica Martino on the one hand and Stefano Accorsi on the other. Let's talk about them right away. It is by no means easy to find young protagonists who, right from the start, allow us to glimpse that natural gift that belongs to those who carry expressive art within them, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It's about looks, gestures, movements, which enclose the character and make him believable, acceptable.
Carpenzano, 22, we had already appreciated in All that you want, by Francesco Bruni, where he immediately gave proof of his skills (it should be noted that he began to be an actor almost by chance) and then consolidated his figure in La terra dell'Abastanza by the D'Innocenzo brothers, which had a moderate success also at the Berlin Film Festival. The same can be said of Martino, still growing, but with all the trappings of a very promising approach to the profession of actress. From Stefano Accorsi, a true solid certainty of the quality of Italian actors. Measured, attentive, totally expressive: the eyes and the folds of the face never out of measure, the jokes that are assigned to him cover his humanity as few others manage to do as well.
Now let's talk about the movie. The story tells of a young man who at the age of twenty earns hundreds of thousands of euros thanks to his champion football skills. The world of professional football, from Serie A, is a particular world made up of exaggerated luxuries, immoderate life, whims, prosecutors and contract brokers who do not look anyone in the face. Money seems to be the engine of their life and the young champions often come out drunk, totally stunned by the easy life they are granted. And it is precisely this daze that the young protagonist leads him to be excessively exuberant, uncontrolled on and off the pitch, until the president of his team decides to make him settle down and graduate. He is joined by a professor, detached and tried by sad family events, with whom sparks immediately strike: the young champion really has no desire for books, history, commitment to reading and studying, and his environment, the greedy solicitor as well as the father who will later discover cheat of his son's money, does not help him in any way.
At a certain point, a spring is triggered that completely reverses the scene between Christian and Valerio a bond of esteem is established which will then also become one of affection. In the middle, the young Alessia comes into play who studies medicine, simple and natural, the complete opposite of the disco stickers first frequented by the champion. Moral of the story: when at stake there is not only a ball rolling on the field but feelings, culture, human beings with all their strength and their fragility, there is no game. The ball, the green lawn, easy money, people lose and win, thoughts. There is also another moral: life seems to be truly democratic and not from everyone to everyone, but it distributes its gifts in a balanced way: sometimes it gives some champion feet, others intelligence. Sometimes, equally balanced, a bit of one side and a bit of another.
The film runs very well, the new director immediately provides proof of undoubted direction skills: shots, lights and camera movements all well balanced. The screenplay, even if it pays the Roman slang used by the protagonist, is always very careful not to allow smudges of style and content. All the side characters complete the story correctly, believably. There's nothing to say, The sample it's the best we've seen this season. On these pages, we have often noted the state of crisis of Italian cinema and have often argued that it is also a crisis of ideas, of valid proposals. In this case, we are pleased to observe that there are spaces, there are job opportunities to produce intelligent films, good for all platforms and all markets (it is a pity for a foreigner not to grasp the Roman dialect).
With a little delay we point out a great film in theaters for a few weeks that we had missed: The Electric Woman, refined, powerful in people and images. Not to be missed.
