Lombardi

A strange but interesting mix this film. On one hand we have your typical coming-of-age story involving a group of boys who have that summer-defining moment that bonds them together. Meanwhile, on the other hand, the central object in this moment is the loss of a much loved bong (the Lombardi of the title). This odd mix is not just present in the concept, but persists throughout as it sees the characters swearing and talking nonsense while taking drugs, but yet also going through a tense police engagement where characters are revealed and friendships defined. Sort of.

The mix of approaches does work to interest, and at first I was going with the film because of how curious it struck me in its approach. It is hard to pull off though and the film doesn't really manage it. It has energy and it gets the raw, drug-fuelled comedic bits done; but the "coming of age" aspect doesn't sit comfortably with this, and the police engagement seems too much with feet in both camps of what the film is doing, resulting in me never really settling into whatever it was trying to do. It is still a curio of a student film, and it has energy, but it is the refinement and focus that needed more work to really pull everything off as individual aspects, and as a whole.