In their village of Puglia (Southern part of Italy on the Adriatic side) Federico (Nicolas Vaporidis) and Riccardo (Andrea Bosca) have been best friends since childhood. Federico is a penniless playboy, while Riccardo is a young fashion designer. To pursue his dream, Riccardo trades his home for Milan. When Frederick discovers that the Puglia Region provides funding in support of business activities, he convinces Riccardo to come back and open a fashion house. But there is a problem: funding is only available to common law couples, and so Federico and Riccardo must pretend to be a gay couple, and enlist the help of the local newspaper editor (Massimo Ghini), a journalist (Giulia Michelini) and Richard’s despotic girlfriend (Claudia Potenza).

Written, directed and edited by Matteo Vicino, this film has two souls. A political one, which shows us southern Italy that has few job opportunities, especially for young people, and at the same time revealing the precariousness of legislation that exists in Italy for homosexuals. The second is a simple comedy about homosexuality, with many clownish moments that provide plenty of laughs.

It certainly was a risky attempt by Matteo for his second film (the first, Young Europe, is still awaiting distribution) to juggle with homosexuality and comedy, as we well know that comedies can rapidly turn sour on film directors. Nevertheless, Matteo manages to pull it off. The cast provides strong performances, the script is well constructed, sprinkled with colorful humor, the moments of pure fun are palpable and keeps the pace quite lively.

Recommended.

Christophe Chanel