Director: Matteo Garrone 
Starring: Seydou Sarr, Moustpha Fall, Issaka Sawagodo, Hichem Yacoubi
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 121 mins

Io Capitano is the new film from Matteo Garrone about two teenager cousins who decide to leave Senegal to seek a more prosperous future in Italy. It’s a story we hear of many times in the news, and the film has been inspired by actual stories of migrants’ African routes to Europe. While it’s easy to dismiss the swathes of desperate individuals trying to claim asylum in a safer country, Garrone delicately portrays their plight. Garrone is a talented director, initially most famous for his gangster film Gomorrah, which I didn’t love. However, he’s since proved a knack for the fantastical with Tale of Tales, Dogman and his ambitious Pinocchio. 

Io Capitano is a terrific and thought-provoking piece from Garrone. While its first twenty minutes are quite atypical of his usual directorial style, once the boys leave home, this is a Garrone experience through and through. A scene with a desperate woman falling behind as a group walk through a desert is particularly affecting, especially with how Garrone plays with time and hallucinations. The ending is also bleak and hard-hitting yet simultaneously joyous. An extended sequence set in a prison is also typical of Garrone and I really brought the relationship between the Seydou (Seydou Sarr) and Martin (Issaka Sawagodo), a man he’s imprisoned with. 

Garrone masterfully often shows but doesn’t tell and I always respect it when a filmmaker treats their audience as intelligent. The blues-inspired score by Andrea Farri is sensational and really elevates the material on-screen and the film is beautifully shot by Paolo Carnera. 

I absolutely loved Io Capitano and was completely absorbed in the teenager’s journey. This is another brilliant film by Matteo Garrone and one well worth seeking out – it’s one of the best of the year.