GLASSBOY

Matt 2020, 93 minutes, Colour.

Andrea Arru, Loretta Goggi, Rosa Barbolini, Stefano Trapuzzano, Mia Pomelari, Gabriel Manonnozzi De Cristoforo, Luca Cagnetti, Massimo De Lorenzo, David Paryla, Giorgia Wurth.

Directed by Samuele Rossi.

Glassboy is the story of a boy with haemophilia, the story designed for young audiences, the same age as Pino, the boy, and the friends he makes in the town. Pino is in 11.

The young audience will identify immediately with the credit sequences, Pino does sketches, creates comic book stories. Then we are introduced to the real life of Pino, safe in his house, wearing his cycle helmet and superhero cape, watching the children outside his window, attracted especially to the young girl, Mavi, who is a top cyclist, rivalling one of the older boys of the town. She sees Pino watching and comes into the house making demands on him, discovering the truth.

She belongs to a group of friends called the SNERDS. One is a boy with touches of blue hair who loves music. Another is a bespectacled young girl with the touch of the expert on many subjects. The other is a fat boy, Tubs, frequently the butt of jokes, continually wolfing down food – and, perhaps, the screenplay targeting him with too much mocking. A touch of bullying.

Pino has parents who are loving and protective. However, his grandmother, a Countess, dominates a room whenever she enters, has plans to take Pino to Stockholm for a cure. She is also employed a teacher for many years for private tuition for Pino – and he turns out to be a stock comic character as well, a touch of the comic villain.

But, Pino’s parents welcome the group and they bond. Eventually Pino being allowed to go to school.

Too good to be true! Enter grandmother again, abducting Pino with the help of the teacher, interning him at her Castle in Austria (the Italian town is near the border of Austria), with a plane charter for the flight to Sweden. But the children get the information, get the train to Austria, cycle to the Castle – and it turns into quite a quest, a kind of variation on the Fab Four or any other group of adventures for kids.

They are able to help Pino to escape, pursued by the teacher, some comic chases and crashes, arrival at the railway station where the grandmother collapses – and repentance. Eventually, all the parents arrive, all the reconciliations, Pino able to gather all these adventures into drawing his comic strips again.

Ideal for a children’s audience who would share the adventures and identify with the characters – and parents of these children would enjoy it as well. Perhaps a caution for grandmothers!

1. Pino, the nickname, his haemophiliac? Treatment by his family? By his friends, by the bullies at school?
2. The opening credits, comicstrip drawings, Pino and his story, heroism? His helmet, his cape, the super hero? And the story becoming a story of children superheroes and their quest?
3. The Italian town, near the Austrian border, homes, the streets, the sea, the countryside, the travel to Austria? The Castle in Austria, interiors? The musical score?
4. Pino’s story, his age, physical condition, protection by his parents, protection by his grandmother and her dominance? His room, the drawings, the costume? The windows and his view of the square? Watching the children on the bike, supporting Mavi, her winning the race, his joy? Her coming to the house, criticising him? His continuing to watch, the boy and the cheating, the line on the mirror of the teacher’s car, Pino coming out, smashing it and saving Mavi? The response of the bullies? Her response? The friends?
5. The SNERDS, name for the group, their age, at school together, their friendship? Mavi as a leader, her story, her mother’s death from cancer, keeping her hair like her mothers, her father and his loss of the job because of Pino’s father, resentment? Domenico, the blue hair, love of music? Mei, glasses, intellectual? Tubs, large, (and the screenplay picking on fat people and their ever-eating)? Preoccupation with food, his fearfulness?
6. Pino, bonding with his friends, their outings together, support of their parents, the children in the house, eating, playing, the music, the whole family dancing? The disapproval of the grandmother?
7. The teacher, figure of fun, the tutoring, Pino and his being bored, yet absorbing the learning? The teacher and the damage to his car? Not needed anymore, his protests, siding with the grandmother, helping her with the abduction? At the Castle in Austria, pursuing the group in the car, crashing and the hay falling on him?
8. The confrontation with the bullies, memories of the bike race, Mavi and her winning?
9. Pino and the outing, the umbrella, in the rain, enjoying being wet? His disappearance? Everybody searching? The irony that his grandmother had taken him? The plan to take him to Stockholm for a cure? Booking the plane?
10. The grandmother, her story, the photo albums, her concern about her husband and his illness, his death? Wanting to save her grandson?
11. The rival boys, the information about the plane to Stockholm, Mavi in the group, the decision to go to Austria, the train ride, their bikes, the trick, the Castle, entering, hiding, meeting with Pino? The escape, being on the back of Mavi’s bike, the exhilaration? The teacher and the pursuit?
12. The railway station, the grandmother and her collapse, the change of heart? Pino in his speech to her about life? All the parents arriving, happiness and reconciliation?
13. Pino, his sketches, the adventures, the group?
14. A film for children of the age of the group, for parents?