The Stolen Children

A drearier version of Kikujiro, set in Italy. It's an unfair comparison because Stolen Children never aims for comedy, but there are some obvious parallels between the two films. While the drama works its magic in the final third, overall it just wasn't interesting enough to warrant the two-hour runtime.

Antonio is tasked to bring two young kids to an orphanage after their mom was arrested for prostituting them. When he arrives at the orphanage there is no more place for them. Antonio is stuck with the kids, but he can't just dump them somewhere, so he decides to take them under his wings.

The pacing is pretty slow and the cinematography is very plain. The performances aren't too great either, but the bond that develops between the three main actors is quite nice. The film gets progressively better, but it takes too long before it comes close to being decent. Not great, but the film has some nice moments.