In a small Italian village dubbed the nation’s happiest, a newly arrived teacher learns the ominous truth about a teenage saint with the power to emotionally heal others through his hugs, in Paolo Strippoli’s unnerving supernatural chiller.
There’s a little bit of Carrie and The Omen here, a hint of The Village, and a nod, in the crisp yet moody cinematography, to restrained Scandi-horrors.
The Holy Boy 2025
La valle dei sorrisi
In the remote Italian village of Remis, dubbed the nation’s happiest town, there’s something a little off about 15-year-old school student Matteo. There’s usually a kid like him in every high school, the introverted loner, not good at sports, but there’s no one who can provide what Matteo can to the villagers who are still traumatised by a train disaster that tore through their community: he’s been gifted with the ability to provide psychic healing through the power of his hugs, and he’s in high demand from the struggling adults.
As newly arrived teacher Sergio, himself battling a dark past, will soon discover, there’s a very ominous flipside to Matteo’s holy powers, and for a teenager grappling with the pressures of queer longing and small-town boredom something’s gonna give when he starts questioning his role as the village saint …
Paolo Strippoli’s classy chiller is dripping with atmospheric dread, and cannily anchors proceedings in the all-too-real human struggles to process and reconcile grief, while nailing down something rather revealing about the adolescent queer experience in religiously oppressive communities.
– Cho Jinseok