Oscilloscope Films has announced the home-video release of Diciannove, Giovanni Tortorici’s striking autofictional debut that’s been generating buzz since its Venice premiere. The 2024 Italian-UK coming-of-age drama follows Leonardo, a restless 19-year-old from Palermo who ricochets between London, Siena, and his own shifting ambitions. Played with raw intensity by newcomer Manfredi Marini, Leonardo’s journey is less about epiphany than drift—an anxious search for purpose, identity, and intellectual clarity that refuses tidy answers.
Over the film’s yearlong timeline, Leonardo abandons economics for literature, then retreats into solitary study of the classics. His strained encounters—with professors, friends, and lovers—form a portrait of late-teen volatility that critics have praised for its honesty and queer subtext. Tortorici, drawing directly from his own student years, shot the film partly in his old Siena apartment, lending the project a haunting sense of self-confrontation.Visually, Diciannove stands out: shot on film and punctuated by abrupt edits, stylized movements, and even intentional film-stock degradation, it channels Leonardo’s inner turmoil through bold formal choices.
The result is a work that meanders by design, shifting between chaotic outbursts and quiet, introspective stretches.Winner of the Queer Lion at Venice, Diciannove marks Tortorici as a fresh, fearless new voice. Its Blu-ray & DVD release offers a perfect chance to discover one of the most intriguing coming-of-age films in recent Italian cinema.
