The Italian

The movie’s notable for its striking location photography, though the action is framed as both a play and a novel...

Even when Kravchuck lets the story drift, the boy is a solid anchor.

Andrei Kravchuk's film is sensitive to the hilt and pleasingly attuned to the guileless outlook of its hero.

With a tensed brow, Kolya Spiridonov plays a boy perpetually hovering between anxiety and dogged determination, and the film walks the same line, unsure about where it's going but always moving forward regardless.