Recently Rented By KateGlanz

GreenCine Staff Pick: As much a film about the human conscience as it is about boyhood innocence, and the abrupt dissolution thereof, Gabriele Salvatores' I'm Not Scared is also a terrifically entertaining and tense, even frightening work (it's probably too scary for younger kids). The story follows ten-year-old Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano is a real find), in a remote Italian village, who uncovers a dark secret that jars his relationship with his parents and his view of the world outside. The film's a great example of how to correctly tell a story from one point of view, from the eyes of a young boy, without condescension. And the pastoral Italian countryside, the hazy feel of summer days there among the wheat fields, is captured by Italo Petriccione's radiant cinematography. I'm Not Scared is told with such compassion, depth and deliberate pacing, refusing to go for the all-too-easy shocks - though it is genuinely suspenseful - that it's interesting to compare how this story, based on a real life crime, is presented here versus how it might have been recreated in the likely overpaced American version. At any rate, it's a fine work that will stay with you long afterwards. -- Craig Phillips