52 Films by Women Vol 4. 1. TWIN FLOWER (Fiore Gemello) (Director: Laura Luchetti)
I f I have learned one thing about writing about films by women directors for the last three years, it is that change is slow. There were no films that equalled the impact of Wonder Woman in year three, though in my humble opinion, Lady Bird should have been rewarded at the 2018 Academy Awards – apologies for playing a broken record, but Get Out did not deserve ‘Best Original Screenplay’. Nevertheless, I look forward to whatever surprises ‘year four’ might throw up. The first, Fiore Gemello (Twin Flower), written and directed by Laura Luchetti, isn’t exactly a surprise. It is nevertheless an engaging and sensitively told film about two young people from very different worlds who help one another. Set in Sardinia it focuses on Basim (Kalill Kone), an illegal migrant from Côte D’Ivoire who befriends Anna (Anastasyia Bogach), a sixteen year old (or thereabouts) young woman traumatised into being mute and on the run from a threatening older man, Manfredi (Aniello Arena). It depi...