Stillwater - redneck meets chic

The initial background scene setting in Stillwater is brief - it helps to have read the synopsis to know what is going on at the start. Once we get to Marseille it settles down. The twist at the end is nicely handled (if predictable).

Bicycle Thieves for the 21st Century

Life is confusing when you are growing up, and the film might seem so at first but it all comes together as a vivid portrait of Pio's experience trying to grow up.

The actors playing the family members are all a real Romani family playing themselves, but it is only at the end credits when you see their names that you realise this, so natural are their performances (I don't speak Italian so there may be some clues in the way lines are delivered).

This is an excellent example of modern neo-Realism, very much in the vein of de Sica's classic 'Bicycle Thieves', but thoroughly modern. If you like the films of Ken Loach or Mike Leigh you'll like this.

An Accidental Classic?

As an early talkie the acting style still owes a lot to silent methods, The narrative is a bit disjointed - but this may be due to the director having dies before the editing was complete and the original version having been lost, so what we have is a modern reconstruction/restoration job.

I think if it is a classic it is only because of the accident of it having survived.