The Life Ahead

 2.5/4

Starring: Ibrahima Gueye, Sophia Loren, Renato Carpentieri, Massimiliano Rossi, Abril Zamora, Babak Karimi, Iosif Diego Pirvu

Rated PG-13 for Thematic Content, Drug Material involving Minors, Some Sexual Material and Language

Despite a cast of strong performers, "The Life Ahead" never really comes together.  The characters never attain the three-dimensionality needed for this tearjerker to pay off.  The people in this movie have closer bonds with each other than I did with them.  Intellectually I knew what the film was going for, but I didn't feel much for them.

Momo (Guete) is an orphan in Italy.  He isn't homeless; ostensibly he is being cared for by Dr. Coen (Carpentieri).  But the good doctor is old, and asks Rosa (Loren) to look after the boy.  Rosa is a former streetwalker who has a history of taking in children of other prostitutes.  She doesn't want to take him in; she already has two other boys under her care and Momo made a bad impression when he stole some goods that she was selling at the thrift market.  But she does, and slowly they begin to bond.  But Rosa has her own demons, including a penchant for disappearing and going into trance like states.

"The Life Ahead" can at least boast an interesting cast of characters.  Momo, Rosa, their transsexual neighbor Lola (Zamora) and the kindly Hamil (Karimi) are all interesting characters.  But none of them ever escape the cliches they start out as.  For example.  We know that Momo and Rosa will hate each other at first and then become as close as mother and son.  We know that Hamil will give Momo a sense of discipline and self-respect before tragedy causes Momo to throw it in his face (for which he will see the error of his ways before the end).  And so it goes.  There's nothing inherently wrong with this kind of material.  The problem is that it all feels like cinematic shorthand rather than a real story.

It isn't for lack of trying on part of the actors.  The cast is uniformly excellent.  Newcomer Ibrahima Gueye has the poise and presence of a seasoned actor.  He lacks the artifice that bogs down even the best child actors.  He isn't too cute nor does he try too hard.  Momo is very smart, but he has abandonment issues and believes that being given money is the same thing as being cared for.  Even if he has to deal drugs to get it.  The young actor never strikes a false note.  He holds his own against the legendary Italian screen siren Sophia Loren, who is unrecognizable as the ailing, brittle Rosa.  The actress shed her glamorous image to play the elderly, damaged Rosa.  It's a good performance in a role that, quite frankly, the Oscars love (no doubt Netflix saw this too).  Also worth mentioning is Babak Karimi, who plays the kindly Hamil.  The actor, who frequently works with Iranian director Asghar Farshadi, has a genuine warmth that is really appealing.  His scenes land in ways that the rest of the film strives for but cannot reach.

Edoardo Ponti (Loren's son) clearly has some talent behind the camera.  This is not an example of nepotism, or if it was, it isn't obvious.  But he needs a better screenplay.  He has the cast and the story right, but he needs to go deeper.  The dialogue needs to be stronger, and the situations need to be better explored.  It isn't enough to tell a story like this.  The characters need to come alive, and the audience needs to feel their growing bonds.  Show us.  Don't tell.

There are moments that do work.  Some of the film's dark humor generates chuckles, and Ponti is adept at keeping the film on an even tone.  Despite the fact that the film centers on a pre-teen orphan who deals drugs, it's a feel good movie.  But the film feels like it is skimming the surface of a much better and more moving film.