Quo Vadis, Baby? review

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Like his previous film, the kidnapped-kid drama I'm Not Scared, Italian director Gabriele Salvatores' latest hinges on a mystery that leads to shadowy family secrets. This time he's shifted the focus to a woman in a fittingly adult film-noir setting. The Bolognese rock singer Angela Baraldi plays the winningly craggy Giorgia Cantini, a PI who receives video diaries of her younger sister Ada, a wannabe model who apparently killed herself 16 years ago. As Angela explores the videos, she begins to suspect foul play.

Salvatores' hi-def digital cinematography creates a rich and vivid world. That seductive impact is, sadly, diluted in ham-fisted, self-conscious reminders that we're Watching A Movie, the title alone quoting Last Tango In Paris. Sadly, the end result feels less like noir than a game of Spot The Reference.

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