THE CHILDHOOD FRIEND

Arnold Gardner, a television presenter, after the suicide of anchorman Duncan Mackay, takes his place hosting the TV show "Venticinquesima ora." His goal is to reveal the "skeletons in the closet" of public figures in front of the cameras. But Arnold also has a past to hide and a "friend," now long forgotten, is determined to remind him... With this film, shot entirely in the USA, Pupi Avati tries his hand at the thriller genre and once again demonstrates his talent. The screenplay is very attentive to the psychological nuances of the various characters, the pace (as often happens in Avati's films) is rather slow but never enough to lose the viewer's attention, and even the cast, though lacking in big names, is absolutely up to the task. A biting and effective thriller that doesn't get lost, as often happens, in genre stereotypes and deserves much more attention than it has received. Worth rediscovering.