Il sol dell’avvenire

With ‘A Brighter Tomorrow’ (the English title), director, writer, and actor Nanni Moretti (‘Caro Diario’, ‘Mia Madre’) returns to his great loves: Rome and cinema. Moretti himself plays a film director struggling with his relationships and the production of his latest film. ‘A Brighter Tomorrow’ jumps back and forth between past and present, fantasy and reality. Beautifully crafted, this bittersweet Italian drama is one of Moretti's most personal films to date. At the legendary Cinecittà studios in Rome, the shooting of Giovanni's (Moretti) latest film has started. While keeping his actors happy and directing circus elephants, Giovanni also struggles to save his marriage to producer Paola (Margherita Buy). Politics, love, and a colourful circus compete for his attention, both on and off set. Moretti teams up again with actress Buy (‘Mia Madre’) while Mathieu Amalric (‘The French Dispatch’) is hilarious as an enthusiastic but shady French co-producer. ‘Playful… “A Brighter Tomorrow” overflows with… ideas, which show a fresh engagement with the medium from the still-feisty director, now pushing 70 (one scene finds the spry guy scootering around his beloved Piazza Mazzini neighborhood). Do we believe even for a second that Moretti’s had it with the industry … or with life? Of course not.’—Peter Debruge, Variety