The scenic beauty of Italian cities evokes much romanticism. Hollywood has always been able to capture audiences with romance stories set in Italian cities rich in bewitchingly glorious antiquity. Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck’s escapade brought to life in ‘Roman Holiday’ is perhaps a classic example from the golden age of Hollywood.
‘Three Coins in the Fountain’ is another such classic, set in Rome adapted from the novel ‘Coins in the Fountain’ by John Secondari. ‘A Room with a View’, is also a Hollywood classic set in Italy that was adapted to film from the folds of literature, the book being the novel of the same name written by E.M. Forster.
There is no doubt that Italy like France provides a superb setting for sweeping romance movies when it comes to the art of storytelling through moving images. The cinema industry has surely been all the richer because of the beauteous visual prospects offered by Italian cities.
‘Lost in Florence’ which was released in 2017, is an American romantic drama film written and directed by Evan Openheimmer. Set in the breathtakingly beautiful city of Florence, the story centres around how two young lovers vacationing in Florence discover that what they want in life don’t converge into prospects for a stable future together.
Eric Lombard played by Brett Dalton who has dreams of becoming a professional American football player is made to see that his plans for the future are incongruent with the expectations of his girlfriend Colleen played by Emily Atack, who rejects his proposal of marriage while they are vacationing in a very romantic city.
What follows for Eric afterwards is a mix of self discovery as well as exploring passions that may rekindle new desires to pursue dreams that may have seemed until then, lost.
The Florentine sport called ‘Calcio storico’ which is a bone crunching, practically no-holds-barred team sport that becomes a curious mix of rugby and football blended with boxing and wrestling becomes a calling for Eric who becomes engulfed in the desire to prove himself capable in this traditional Florentine sport that is something of cultural spectacle and an alpha male ego trip rooted in the Florentine masculine psyche to display male prowess through sport.
Alongside the dangers of what seems like an exotic sport, Eric also discovers his attractions awoken for a Florentine beauty named Stefania, played by Alessandra Mastronardi.
However, this infatuation attracts more unsavoury effects than what come his way playing ‘Calcio storico’. And what unfolds is a scenario that speaks of how difference in culture may be ‘bridgeable’, but with a lot of work.
The cinematography is spectacular and captivates the viewer. There is no denying that the setting makes a pivotal impact on the visual senses as though Florence plays a persona of its own in the movie.
The deeper emotional string in this film as seen through Eric’s journey to rejuvenate and redirect himself seem to be about listening to your heart and following your heart towards what you know to be true to yourself.
It is about believing in turns of fate and about discovering yourself in a context completely removed from what you know to be ‘your world’. A scenically captivating film ‘Lost in Florence’ offers the charm of a romance drama that calls to your senses to flow along the cinematic narrative with its merits of simplicity.