Sicilian Ghost Story (3 Stars)

This is the 15th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

It's Sicily in the 1990's. 13-year-old Luna falls in love with Giuseppe, a boy in her school, but after only one date he disappears. She finds out that he's been kidnapped by the Mafia to blackmail his father to stop giving information about the Mafia to the police.

Luna drops out of school and her whole life revolves around finding Giuseppe. She has dreams that tell her where he is. Eventually she finds him, but she doesn't realise that he's already dead, a ghost who has left his body.

The film has a beautiful dreamlike atmosphere, but it takes a long time to live up to its title. The first supernatural occurrences don't take place until an hour into the film, and even then they're subtle, making the viewer unsure whether it's just another dream. We don't realise that a ghost is involved until we finally see Giuseppe looking down on his body.

To be honest, the supernatural aspects seemed out of place. I would have been happier if it had just been a normal teenage love story.