Review: Luca (Enrico Casarosa, 2021)

Warning: This review contains spoilers!

To my best Italian friend, Lidia

Luca is a love letter to Italy – and it is written beautifully.

In May 2016, I was on a train from La Spezia to Manarola, Italy, one of the five villages of Cinque Terre. Manarola had been on my bucket list since I saw the photo of this place, with its picture-postcard perfection, as a background on the Windows log-in screen. I remember when I got off the train and saw Manarola before me for the very first time, becoming teary at its beauty, as well as being overcome by fulfilling a long-held wish to see it for myself. During this trip, I visited all five villages of Cinque Terre (Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore), and to this very day this holiday is amongst the most memorable of my travels. While watching Luca (Enrico Casarosa, 2021), I felt as though I had somehow been transported there again. I could almost sense the sunshine on my skin, smell the sea and the lemon and olive trees, and at times it was as though I could even taste the amazing pasta I still remember from my visit. Luca takes its viewers on a virtual vacation, which is particularly to be appreciated during these days of Covid-19 when most of us cannot travel so easily as we used to, and may make many viewers want to go (or go back, as the case may be) to the Italian Riviera. Indeed, besides offering a heart-warming story about the importance of friendship and acceptance, one could argue that Luca’s greatest strength lies in presenting its audience with an Italian-themed feast for the senses.

**Fig. 1 - The children of Portorosso.**

With regards to the film’s narrative, the movie is a story of friendship between Luca and Alberto – who are sea monsters able to take on human form when dry – and a human girl, Giulia. The film begins with Alberto stealing “gadgets and gizmos” from two fishermen’s boat; some of the items that fall from the boat in his encounter with the fisherman are found the next morning by Luca, which leads to his encounter with Alberto and the beginning of their friendship. And no, the reference to “gadgets and gizmos” wasn’t an accident; there are multiple references throughout the movie to The Little Mermaid (Ron Clements and John Musker, 1989) and its trope about the desire to discover the human world. With Alberto’s help, Luca learns how to become and behave like a human. Soon, the boys fall in love with the idea of having a Vespa, as the scooter comes to represent freedom to them. While Luca and Alberto spend lots of time together and have fun, Luca’s parents discover that their son has gone to the surface, which he is strictly forbidden to do (another echo of The Little Mermaid). As punishment, Luca’s parents decide to send him to his uncle, but he escapes. He and Alberto then decide to go to “Vespatown” (a.k.a. Portorosso) in order to get a real Vespa and – as they think of it – be free. Soon after arriving they meet Giulia, and the three “underdogs” become a team and enter a race to win the Portorosso Cup Triathlon so that the boys can buy a Vespa and Giulia can win the race to prove a point. Luca and Alberto have a great time among the humans: amongst other smaller adventures and discoveries, the boys meet Giulia’s fisherman father, Massimo, who cooks a pasta supper for them while singing Largo al factotum by Rossini; later, the boys help him with fishing. Preparation for the race also goes well despite continuous clashes with Ercole Visconti, a rich and arrogant boy in the town who has won the Portorosso Cup five times and owns a beautiful Vespa. But then even bigger trouble arises when Luca’s parents – transformed into humans – appear in the town looking for their son. Further conflict is created when Luca’s desire to go to school puts his friendship with Alberto to the test. Eventually, however, the underdogs win the race, even though this comes with the revelation of the boys’ true identities. Just when this looks set to put their victory in jeopardy, Giulia’s father is able to persuade the town to accept the sea monsters; this leads to the further revelation that there are more sea monsters living among the humans. Ultimately, the boys manage to buy their Vespa. But the summer’s end means that Giulia needs to go back to school in Genoa. The film’s final scene reveals that Alberto has not only sold the Vespa to buy a train ticket for Luca, but also has convinced Luca’s parents to let Luca go to school so that his dreams can come true.

Visually, the film treats its audiences to a ravishing portrayal of the Italian Riviera. Viewers are introduced to the fictional town of Portorosso. Details like children playing football (Fig. 1) and eating watermelon (Fig. 2), youngsters riding their Vespa (Fig. 3), and old ladies having their ice cream (Fig. 4), all against a backdrop of bright, colourful houses along the seafront (Fig. 5), making the film’s setting feel rich and authentic. Massimo’s freshly made pasta is depicted in a way that pleases not only the eye, but also evokes the delicious taste and aroma of the green pesto (Fig. 6). It even makes the audience feel the sun on their skin, and while the characters wander around the town, complete with laundry drying in the wind (Fig. 7) and people drinking espresso in cosy cafés (Fig. 8), we are asked to imagine other sights, sounds, and scents. Indeed, the attentive viewer can even catch a glimpse of one of the most famous Italian actors, Marcello Mastroianni, one of the many touches meant to locate us firmly within an Italy some may know only through films and imagination. It’s worth noting that Luca’s director, Enrico Casarosa, who also directed the short La Luna (2011), was born in Genoa. As Casarosa (whose name is echoed by the fictional town of the film) himself noted, “This is a deeply personal story for me, not only because it’s set on the Italian Riviera where I grew up, but because at the core of this film is a celebration of friendship” (in Green, 2020).

Indeed, the most important theme in Luca is friendship. Luca offers a delightful illustration of the altruistic nature of true friendship when Alberto sells his Vespa – the object he wanted the most and which meant the world (or, more precisely, freedom) to him – in order to make Luca’s dreams come true. Furthermore, through its portrayal of friendship between two sea monsters and a human, there are important and timely themes in the film. One of them is the acceptance of others and the rejection of xenophobia and bigotry. By depicting the sea monsters as if they were immigrants, as well as by portraying Ercole, the film’s true monster, as intolerant and prejudiced, the film sends a strong message that the true monsters among us rarely come from outside our group’s borders. This contrasts with, Giulia, a go-getter with a golden heart, who does not shy away from considering herself a fellow underdog, saying to the boys, “You know, we underdogs have to look out for each other, right?” Indeed, the film ends with the three protagonists winning the race through teamwork. Last but not least, and strongly linked to the theme of the enemy from within, there is Alberto’s philosophy. As he explains to Luca, there is a “Bruno” in everyone’s head who tells them that they cannot achieve this or that, and that he needs to be silenced by repeating: “Silenzio, Bruno!” In other words, Bruno is the personification of fear and self-doubt which holds back the individual – and the community – from growing.

Fig. 8 - Luca’s cafe culture. — **Fig. 8 - *Luca*’s cafe culture.**

One could argue that due to its story and to the many (and all too obvious) links to The Little Mermaid, Luca cannot be considered a Pixar masterpiece; rather than being “Easter Eggs” the references are too numerous to be anything other than derivative. Nevertheless, this sea-soaked, sun-loving adventure takes its audiences on an amazing virtual Vespa ride to a world where underdogs can win and where being different – in fact, literally being a monster in most people’s eyes – is not looked down upon. The messages in Luca about different forms of acceptance are something that we all should consider, especially in these difficult days of divisive rhetoric and xenophobic politics. It is this juxtaposition between acceptance and rejection which raises this film from being simply pretty to look at into a story of much greater substance and beauty. But on a lighter (and more escapist) note, the delights of Luca’s depictions of an Italian summer may likewise inspire many of us to at least dream of spending our next holiday in the idyll of the Italian Riviera, at least until we can actually go there.

And as a parting thought: #SilenzioBruno should absolutely become a thing!

**Article published: June 25, 2021**

References

Green, Alex. 2020. “Pixar Announces Coming-of-Age Film Set in the Italian Riviera”. The Belfast Telegraph online (July 30). https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/pixar-announces-coming-of-age-film-set-in-the-italian-riviera-39410745.html.

Biography

Anna Zsubori is a Lecturer at Coventry University and at DMU, as well as a PhD researcher at the University of Leicester. She is also a YECREA representative to the Audience and Reception Studies section of the European Communication Research and Education Association. Her research focuses on tweens’ understanding of identity through the Disney Princess phenomenon.