Little Girl [Import]

I won't bury the lead. Nothing happens in "Little Girl." That's as simple as I can put it. So if you need a big plot, you will undoubtedly hate this movie. For me, however, I was absolutely captivated by this quiet slice-of-life drama that has no big purpose other than to show natural characters interacting in their environment. This Italian and Austrian co-production employs all the tenets that made the Italian neorealism movement so memorable. The cast is populated with non-professional actors, the setting is a world of economic hardship, and the interactions are truthful and seemingly improvisational. This truly is, for want of a better word, as real as real can be. But "Little Girl," despite what might have been an unsavory topic, has more charm and lightness than you have any reason to anticipate. Honestly, I loved it although I realize it may not be for everyone in an era where movies have gotten bigger and more in-your-face.

One day, as a woman (Patrizia Gerardi) searches for her dog in the park, she comes upon a little girl left alone. When she isn't able to find the child's mother, she takes her home to a local trailer park populated by struggling circus performers. A note from the mother is discovered saying that she will soon return, so Gerardi decides to watch the girl and not involve the police. Over the remainder of the film, we see Gerardi bond with the little girl (Asia Crippa) and how several other prominent members of the neighborhood form a new family unit of caregivers to the child. A grizzled Uncle (Walter Saabel) and a teenager (Tairo Caroli) round out the principle core, but everyone comes to accept the new addition to the community. Everyone is so incredibly natural, it's as if NOTHING is being staged and the bonds between all of the characters are genuine and quite sweet.

It helps that 2-year-old Asia Crippa is absolutely stunning and charming. Who wouldn't be enamored of this little girl? I sure was. But Gerardi, Saabel, and Caroli are all incredibly convincing. The movie has a gentle and loving tone and lacks any cynicism. There is also a bittersweet undercurrent as you know these people belong together, but they have no legal standing. So for the moment, they just enjoy one another with the realization that it could all end at any moment. Despite the deprivations in their lifestyles, these are people who have truly figured out the importance of togetherness and unconditional support. In the end, "Little Girl" might be too slight for some--but I think it speaks volumes. I really didn't expect it, but I fell hard for this movie and found it all but irresistible. It may not be for everyone, but I suspect those that love it will really love it! 4 1/2 stars. KGHarris, 3/12.

"La Pivellina" is a truly charming movie with, unfortunately, a non-ending. A story needs to conclude with an ending or validation of some sort to confirm for the audience that the time they spent was worthwhile. This movie doesn't do that, but it's actually worth watching despite that failure.

The title of this review could well be the daily headline in Italy where there is an ongoing and ignored crisis of parents abandoning their toddlers to the streets on a regular basis. Director Rainer Frimmel and writer/director Tizza Covi wanted to bring the attention of the world to the crisis of Italy's abandoned toddlers. They chose to tell this story through the use of real street gypsies with the aide of a couple of professional actors in the lead roles. The gypsy class of Italy are people who live on the edge of abject poverty and destitution, abandoned themselves by the society in which they struggle to stay alive.

A gypsy women, Patti, played by professional actress Patrizia Gerardi, finds La Pivellina, an abandoned toddler, in a swing one late afternoon as she searches for her dog in a park near the gypsy encampment where she lives in a small trailer with her husband and a band of street performing circus gypsies. The swing is still moving when she finds her suggesting that the mother has just left her baby when she spots someone she hopes might take her in.

The baby will tear your heart out. She is absolutely trusting, achingly sweet. You want to die with tenderness and fear for her. The toddler, Asia Crippa, embodies goodness and innocence and beauty.

In the end, the anonymous mother of La Pivellina leaves a note in Patti's rusted mailbox promising she will come reclaim her baby in a couple of days. So the gypsies, who have done their best to care for and truly love this little baby girl, throw the toddler a going away party. But in the end, the mother never shows up, and Patti is left sitting in the dying sunset with La Pivellina asleep in her arms. The scene foreshadows the dark futures of La Pivellina and the poor gypsies who have done their best to care for her. Poverty and want engulf them regardless of the deep love in their hearts.

Be warned if you are an animal lover: There is one quick scene in which Patrizia Gerardi hits her little dog very hard, "punishing" it for running away. The hit is real, and the dog reacts with pain, both physical and emotional. It seemed like an unnecessary scene to have in a film that is all about someone who does everything she can to care for and protect an innocent thing when Patti and her husband themselves have barely enough to survive.

This movie is meant to haunt you long after you've viewed it. And it does.