The Mafia Only Kills in Summer review – larky coming-of-age tale

There’s an oddly sympathetic mix of sentimentality and black comedy in this larkily nostalgic coming-of-age picture about growing up in 1970s Palermo, home of the mafiosi, and some brave unsung guys who stood up to them. It’s written and directed by its star, Pierfrancesco Dilberto: known to the Italian TV public as “Pif”, a journalist and satirist.

Arturo (played by Alex Bisconti as a child, and by Pif as a grownup) falls in love with his classmate Flora, the daughter of a judge; Arturo himself as a kid conceives a strange hero-worship fascination for Giulio Andreotti, and even dresses as him at a kids’ fancy dress party – a nice scene, probably inspired by Toni Servillo’s turn as Andreotti in Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo, gliding across the floor like a priestly Dracula.

Arturo becomes a reporter and as both a child and clueless journo beginner, finds himself coming across real-life cops and officials: fictional encounters that Pif intends as a tribute to the honest, brave people who stood up to the mafia – because these are the very people who were murdered by the mobsters, and who have plaques up in their honour all over the city. It’s a winning and likable film.