We haven’t seen much from Vanessa Kirby since what I thought was an Oscar-worthy performance in The World to Come. Of course, she’s been busy shooting a couple of Mission: Impossible movies, but the film we’ll see her in first is considerably different. Italian Studies finds Kirby adrift in New York City, unsure of who she is or even when she is, until encountering a young man who she may or may not know.
The film is directed by Adam Leon, a personal favorite around here for his films Tramps and Gimme the Loot. I was just talking to someone the other day about Leon and wondering if and when he’d get another project. His films tend to be a bit shaggy and loose, but they have a really great sense of place, and it appears Italian Studies will, too.
Italian Studies opens in theaters and VOD on January 14th 2022.
From award-winning filmmaker Adam Leon, ITALIAN STUDIES is a lyrical film about dislocation, connection, and the elusive nature of identity. While visiting New York City from her native London, writer Alina Reynolds (Academy Award®-nominee Vanessa Kirby) inexplicably loses her memory and suddenly becomes unmoored and adrift on the streets of Manhattan with no sense of time or place — or even her own name. As Alina’s consciousness swings between imagined conversations, fragments of her own short stories and the bustling city around her, she finds an anchor in charismatic teenager Simon (Simon Brickner). Drawn to the lost woman, Simon soon introduces Alina to his free-spirited group of friends, and together they make their way through a disorienting cityscape full of life, beauty, and music.
