L'albero delle pere

'The story of two outcasts is as old as Italian Neo-realism. Siddharta (14) lives in Rome with his mother Silvia, who is unemployed and addicted to drugs. She has another child, Domittila (5), with another man. When Domittila comes to live with her, caring for the little girl is left entirely to the tender mercies of Siddharta. A difficult task: even more because Domittila has been infected with a serious illness by a syringe.In her narrative about a modern broken family, Archibugi does not resort to sentimentality for a moment. Her young protagonists are too sober and ordinary for that, as well as being sympathetic. The balance between humour and tragedy and the finely tuned use of pop music and computer games make L'albero delle pere a pleasantly sober melodrama, that even gets the air of an Italian feel-good movie thanks to a quasi-fantastic happy ending.' (Hans Kroon, Trouw)