Sweetheart

Margherita Spampinato's 2025 Italian film follows a boy made to spend the summer at his aunt's house in Sicily. The house is old, the aunt strange, and he expects to be bored; but the history of the house and the objects inside it slowly open another story. The tone sits between fairy tale and the real; the camera works at the height of the child's gaze and never confirms the supernatural. Aurora Quattrocchi's aunt is a figure who carries wisdom without becoming endearing. The Sicilian landscape is part of the story. The film is without incident and keeps its ambiguity to the end; for some viewers it will feel too incomplete. Who it's for: viewers who like Italian independent cinema and stories told from a child's view. Who it's not for: anyone wanting plot, or who dislikes open endings.