Film Review: The Boy with Pink Trousers (2025 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival)
The Boy with Pink Trousers is based on the actual story of Andrea Spezzacatena, a fifteen-year-old boy from Rome who was severely cyberbullied and is loosely built on his mother’s, Teresa Manes, autobiographical novel, ‘Andrea: Oltre Il Pantalone Rosa’. The film is an engaging sensitive retelling of Andrea’s story, beautifully acted by the three young leads and is a cautionary tale in this age of social media obsession.
The film begins with Andrea recalling his birth and contemplating what would have happened in his life, shifting then to an older Andrea watching DVDs of him and his family in happy times and wondering when his parents’, Teresa (Claudia Pandolfi) and Tommaso (Corrado Fortuna), relationship began to fail. Moving then to teenaged Andrea (Samuele Carrino) practicing piano as Teresa receives a call from Andrea’s school informing her that he has won a scholarship because of his excellent academic achievement. To celebrate, they go to the funfair with Daniele (Pietro Serpi), Andrea’s younger brother.
As the story progresses, Andrea auditions for a choir that will perform for the Pope where he becomes in awe of another student Christian (Andrea Arru) also auditioning for the choir. At the start of the eighth grade Christian, who is repeating a year, and Andrea become classmates. Andrea is befriended by fellow eight grader Sara (Sara Ciocca) after Andrea deliberately gets into trouble in class. Andrea becomes friends with Christian after Christian asks him to help him with his studies but Christian distances Andrea after Andrea is chosen to perform for the Pope, but Christian isn’t.
After Andrea’s parents split, he confides in Christian who shares the contents of their discussion with the rest of the class. As Andrea and Sara move into High School, they discover that Christian, who was going to a different school, has joined their school and is in the same classes as them. Christian plots against Andrea which leads to calamitous bullying.
The Boy with Pink Trousers is director Margherita Ferri second full-length feature film and she and writer/producer, Roberto Proia, treat the subject matter delicately highlighting Andrea’s journey in the film sympathetically. Martina Cocco’s cinematography is subtle and warm, adding depth and emotion to the film. The music by Francesco Cerasi sits well with the events in the plot. The main theme is “Canta ancora” performed by Arisa which won Best Original Song at the Nastro d’Argento.
The three young leads, Samuele Carrino, Sara Ciocca and Andrea Arru, deliver excellent performances, particularly Carrino who carries most of the screen time of the film with aplomb. They are superbly assisted by Claudia Pandolfi and Corrado Fortuna.
The Boy with Pink Trousers was the highest grossing Italian movie of 2024 for good reason, it is a compassionate portrayal of a sensitive topic featuring exceptional performances by the young cast that will bring a tear to your eye.
Reviewed by Rob McKinnon
Rating; 8 out of 10
Genre: Drama
YouTube trailer: The Boy with Pink Pants trailer I PÖFF28
To book tickets to The Boy With Pink Trousers (Italian Film Festival), please visit https://italianfilmfestival.com.au/films/iff25-the-boy-with-pink-trousers.
