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Review

Cynics will be refused admission to this delightfully sweet, romantic tale. Set in a small Italian fishing village in 1956, it centers on a poor teen boy’s industrious efforts to woo the mayor’s enchanting daughter. As is the town’s tradition, 18-year-old Marcello, sweet-faced and tanned, must offer an acceptable present to the mayor if he hopes to get a date with raven-haired Elena. He decides to present the rooster that wakes him up every morning, but the owner of the rooster wants something in return, some bottles of limoncello from the mysterious Palmieri sisters, who in turn want their unworn wedding dress still sitting in a shop years after being spurned — and the dressmaker wants something, too. As Marcello races through the town franticly trying to fulfill a round-robin list of requests that seem to involve the entire village, time is running out and competition for the young lass is heating up. This is a terrifically and innocently romantic story of young love, told against the backdrop of a pre-modernized world where the pursuit of love reigns supreme. (Italian with English subtitles)

 -- Raymond Murray