Le bambine Review
Le bambine / Mosquitoes (2025) Film Review from the 78th Annual Locarno Film Festival, a movie directed by Nicole Bertani and Valentina Bertani, written by Maria Sole Limodio, Nicole Bertani and Valentina Bertani and starring Milutin Dapcevic, Cristina Donadio, Mia Ferricelli, Petra Scheggia, Agnese Scazza, Marianna Folli, Matteo Martari, Jacopo Demetrio Massara, Jasmin Mattei, Davide Enea Casarin and Toni Pandolfo.
With Le bambine (Mosquitoes), filmmakers Nicole and Valentina Bertani have crafted a cinematic feast for the eyes and ears as the movie stylishly focuses on the bond between three young girls in the year 1997. Centered on eight-year-old Linda (Mia Ferricelli), Marta (Petra Scheggia) and Azzurra (Agnese Scazza), Le bambine is such a creative fusion of new and established ideas that it has even gone as far as to pay artistic homage to the cartoon, “The Powerpuff Girls,” which was a big show during the time period the new picture sets itself in.
This film would be a lot less, though, if not for the perfectly wonderful turn by Milutin Dapcevic as Marta and Azzurra’s occasionally suffering queer nanny, Carlino. Dapcevic steals almost every scene, yet the film oddly is allowed to be the girls’ moment to shine collectively as well. Our three companions learn to adapt to the world they’ve grown accustomed to. This film, on top of looking unique and sounding like it’s set in the 90’s, is also experimental as it employs visuals that will immerse the audience in its world while being significantly different from anything we’ve ever seen before from a cinematic standpoint.
It’s hard not to see this movie in a light where it feels like it’s the kids versus the adults, but, at the same time, the girls occasionally feel more like the adults than the adults do. These girls possess passions which run deep and explore their surroundings with zest. One of the girls is more reserved than the other two, but there are a lot of discoveries made about life and about the complexities of being human that help drive the story.
Set in a time period where being queer was still not universally accepted, the character of Carlino, feels out of place, purposefully, but it’s the longing of Carlino to find comfort in the surroundings Carlino is placed in which helps drive the character home. Carlino has grand aspirations which give the character purpose and a sense of place within the film’s setting.
Let’s not mention that Ferricelli is a tremendously talented performer who manages to stand out among two other gifted actresses, Scheggia and Scazza, respectively. All three of these young stars bring complex themes to life in such a way that the movie’s flashy style works much more than it could have under less passionate filmmakers’ direction.
This movie also drives home the fact that drugs were prevalent during the time period and is a tale of addiction in spots in order to be an accurate representation of the period. In addition to its main characters’ coming-of-age roots, the movie lays out its story in a fascinating way which rises the material to the level it needed to be at to work as both a dramatic film and as a portrait of the late 1990’s which was full of so many differences from these modern times. In a movie set in today’s world, perhaps, cell phones would play a big role. This movie is more concerned with the human bonds between the characters and the longing for self awareness or a good time, whichever is more in need by a character at a particular moment in time.
One can certainly admire the filmmakers choice to use the colors of “The Powerpuff Girls” to express the personalities of the characters here and it’s easy to find that inspiration fascinating. However, on its own merits, Le bambine is a movie unlike any other despite its homages and references to the period it sets itself in. A lot of the adults are over-the-top which makes sense because being seen by the young girls, they become an example of how not to behave for the main characters who drive much of the plot of the movie. This film’s theme is preserving childhood for as long as possible and cherishing the moments that are experienced while trying to evade the sorrows that also permeate life.
This film’s credits are also out of this world. Both the opening and closing credits make the vitality of the movie thrive. The colorful and appealing choices to light the credits up really give the film a personalized touch which makes it all the more intriguing and likely to stand out from any other film. The Bertani filmmakers have created a movie full of important themes that is likely to give girls a feeling of reassurance that it’s through connections with others that life’s most interesting moments are born. Portraying a summer of dazzling confusion, and occasional delight, Le bambine fairly comes alive whenever it has to in order to express the drive of the central characters as well as their passions and motivations.
Rating: 7.5/10
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