Nina

The fascist architecture of Rome is at the heart of this handsomely produced romantic drama, which is named for a pixie-ish twentysomething singing coach who spends the summer dogsitting in her friend’s swanky apartment and resisting the advances of a handsome young cellist. Although Nina is almost 30, she still hasn’t figured out what to do with her life. While waiting, she motors her Vespa through sun-bleached suburban Rome, eats pastry and practices calligraphy. Michele D’Attanasio’s striking cinematography evokes Nina’s indefinable anxiety. The film is set in the outer Roman district of EUR, distinctive for its large, modernist buildings and Neoclassical architecture. A preoccupation with colonnades and arches and a fixation with composition betray the 31-year-old director’s background: she is the daughter of two leading Italian architects and studied architecture herself before finding an outlet for her creativity in film. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)