User reviews

The young actors were pretty good, but I think the pacing of the drama let it down, and there seemed to be confusion about how magical to let the magical realism become.

This is a beautifully made if really tragic love story. Tremendous acting from the two leads. Very powerful in its telling.

If you want something different, powerful and poignant,vthen this is for you.

In a small Sicialian town, Luna (Julia Jedlikowska), a teenage schoolgirl is infatuated with one of her classmates, Giuseppe (Gaetano Fernandez). After he disappears she experiences visions that suggest that he is in danger, but her concerns are met with silence from the local community. Only a handful of friends join her in the search. She attempts to use her visions to trace him.

The film is based off the real life kidnapping of Giuseppe Di Matteo in 1993 who was kidnapped by the Mafia to silence his father. He was held for over 700 days before he was murdered. The film drifts between fantasy and reality, often disarming the viewer. A genuinely haunting film, especially at the film's conclusion it has a dreamlike aesthetic to it.

The title is a bit of a misnomer, as SICILIAN GHOST STORY is a lyrical drama Co-Directed and Co-Written by the team of Fabio Grassandonia and Antonio Piazza. Inspired by the true story of the disappearance of a teenage boy in 1993, the movie isn't a documentation of the case as much as it takes off from the memories of that incident. Grassandonia and Piazza transform those memories into a Romeo & Juliet style fable, even though the lovers here kiss but once. Luna (Julia Jedikowska) and Giussppe (Gaetano Fernandez) have no sooner come together when they are violently thrust apart (needless to say, a certain Sicilian organized crime group is involved). The Directors take a while to build to what they are aiming for. The actors are good with Jedikowska being particularly winsome and determined. Once the movie's phantasmagorical aspects come to the fore, the second half gains its footing. The Directors were fortunate to pair up with a couple of master Director Paolo Sorrentino's (THE GREAT BEAUTY, YOUTH) collaborators in Critiano Travaglioli (editing) and Luca Bigazzi (cinematography) and they assist immeasurably in fulfilling their vision. The locations are well-chosen, including the key Agrigento ruins. While not the horror film the title promises, SICILIAN GHOST STORY is an engrossing tale of its own. It very much plays like the kind of legend the island locales might tell years from now. The one about the girl who loved too much.

Directing: 8 Acting: 7 Story: 6 Production values: 8 Suspence / Thriller level: 7 Action: 3 Mystery / unknown: 4 Romance level: 9 Comedy elements: 1

This movie reminded me of Pan's Labyrinth. Few films show children trying to cope with the loss of a loved one, it was interesting to see how they differ from adults. The cinematography and acting were top notch. I am obsessed with the song "Stay With Me" from the soundtrack by Soap&Skin. The movie stays with you long after the credits have finished rolling.

Sicilian Ghost Story: A tale of young love, kidnapping and horror; a new take on the "Mafia Film" set in a Sicilian town. Luna (Julia Jedlikowska) is in love withe 13 year old classmate Giuseppe (Gaetano Fernandez), they teasingly play in the forest, when a dog threatens Luna he protects her, losing his schoolbag. When Giuseppe disappears Luna is forlorn, thinking he just abandoned her but it is soon revealed that he was kidnapped by the Mafia as his father, also a mafiosi is cooperating with the authorities.

Locals do not want to discuss it and there is a consensual myth even at the school that the boy is ill. Luna won't stop looking for him, even producing leaflets about his disappearance. Her parents fear that this will draw the attention of the gangsters and the town police don't want to be reminded of the reality.

Much more than a gangster film this tale develops as Luna seems to forge a psychic bond with Giuseppe, seeing him in captivity, viewing where he will be moved to. Giuseppe is also aware of that link and undergoes out of body experiences as he falls ill whilst in captivity. As the film progresses the supernatural elements build towards to a climax which threatens to provide a Romeo and Juliet ending.

Some terrible scenes of cruelty, violence and horror. In the forest sequences there is a sense of primeval panic as the sparse trees seem to close in looking like bars in a prison cell. Great performances by Julia and Gaetano. Written and directed by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza this is truly a powerful tale of love conquering fear and indifference. 9/10.

Poetic, bitter, mixing fairy tale atmosphere and slices of captivity, using the eyes of young actors, the gestures of adults, the map of teenager world as lead ingredients of a touchinng, impressive film about a victim and about a love story and about Mafia. A film giving not exactly a pledge or a portrait of crime. But wise picture of fall. About cruelty , about vulnerability, about silence, about dreams. Nothing new. But useful. Maybe, for the right manner to say a profound dark truth.

Do you like kid napping, torture, and child abuse with your love story? Here you go. The producers think they're Ingmar Bergman, but they're NOT. Settle down here for confusion, frustration, boredom, and plain old angst as you try to watch this mess. If I want to see the Mafia misbehaving i'd Rather see 9 hours of the GODFATHER trilogy. Trust me and Skip this awful flick.

A slow pacing story, that some have connected to other movies that are very spiritual and have class. This one really tells a great story with a lot of suspense. And I'm not going into it, because while it isn't really a lot of story going on, it is the subtext. But also the coming of age part of it. It is the mystery, it is the youthfulness, it is the fantasy aspect of it.

Don't expect this to be horror though. If that is what you want to watch, there are other movies for you out there. This one is fantastical and a movie that might feel like it's dragging for people who may not have the patience to watch something that does not have flashy scenes and multiple cuts and a really faster story. It does do a great job and while you probably can see where this is going, it still has a lot of interesting ideas to keep you interested. Even a small "cheat" can be forgiven, because the vibe the movie sends out, is not just being real or reality

Actors are robotic, the kids are sheltered and stupid, their relationships are shallow and fake. Most of the scenes are all in black, in attempt to give some kind of mystery/depth to the movie that is not there. So boring and little dialogue. I expected so much more. I give 2 only because I love Sicily and some random cool shots of nature

Having visited Sicily several times and traveled across it by train and automobile, I was disappointed at how little of it was portrayed in this movie . I found the title to be misleading as well. This wasn't a 'ghost' story; it was an in-human atrocity! The film was so Dark most of the time, I could hardly see what I was supposed to be watching; subtitles were my only guide. It is unfortunate that the Mafia has to be so vicious with their membership, but taking revenge with children is beyond the pale. This movie was NOT entertaining, it was morbid; should not have been made!!!

I just saw this last night and what a pleasant surprise! This is exactly how movies can be crafted to create art. It is never pretentious, it is never self-aware, it is not cynical, and it is not derivative. It is refreshing to see a film like this in an age of Marvel's commercial exploitation of violent filmmaking.

Not for those looking for fast action and thrills. moody and compelling story telling and acting. metaphorical as it dissolves into nothingness. this one crept up to me and really took hold. how a mere sliver of a real story can be powerfully brought to the screen.

A little owl calling in the night, the murmur of the wind as it moves through the forest and the light of the moon in the water. They communicate somehow; this boy who vanished without a trace and the girl, Luna, who gave her heart and refuses to forget him. As days turn into months, life in Luna's remote village returns to normal, but she does not. The same darkness that swallowed the boy could consume the girl.

Based on real life, Sicilian Ghost Story provides a vision of Italy at odds with a typical and simplistic glimpse of the country. Dreams become tangible and humans communicate in supernatural ways, among other abnormal things. The camera itself descends into water and characters are viewed at odd angles and in strange light. The opening of the film, glimmers of light and eerie ambient sounds in a cave combined with ghostly electronic tones, is especially good. It sets the stage for the unexpected, peculiar and dark story. While some scenes are awkward and slow moving the film is as fascinating and extraordinary as ancient Roman columns by the sea. Sicilian Ghost Story surfaced at Cannes in 2017 and is available in Netflix "saved jail."

This teenage love story has all the elements of the genre - mawkish charm, awkward behaviour, youthful anger and rebellion, idealism and humour. But against these usual forces is marshalled all the dark, wordless horror of the Cosa Nostra and its war against the individual conscience.

The result is a movie that is unexpectedly nuanced and moving though much of the territory it covers is familiar from other treatments. The genius of the piece is to have us always see through the teenagers' eyes, and indeed through their dreams. Whether live can prevail is what the movie asks; that we even suspect it might, against such overwhelming and cruel odds, is the message.

This movie is based on the real kidnapping of a young boy by the Mafia after his father becomes an informant of the police. It mainly follows the character of Giuseppe, who has been kidnapped, and his friend and lover Luna. The first half of the film felt very slow-based and you cannot be sure what direction the movie is taking. But the filmmakers tied the story really well in the second half.

I really liked how they used natural elements, light and darkness, and animals as well as dreams and nightmares to show the ordeal and sufferings of the two young main characters, Luna and Giuseppe, in a world of ignorance and indifference of the adults.

The movie is not an ordinary ghost story type, as the title might suggest, but uses a real Mafia-related event as its basis which is told in a unique way through the eyes of its young characters against the haunting yet beautiful Sicilian landscape.