Safe Return Doubtful

By chance, yesterday I read a book called Holy Boy, and watched a film called Holy Boy. Both are recently out, and both, I can recommend..

Yosep, a 21 year old Korean pop idol, seems to already have everything he could dream of, but the idolatry gets to him and he has a plan to escape his public life. The plan however, is derailed by four crazed female fans who refuse to share him with the rest of the world. Each woman is determined that he should be hers alone.

Ahna, Mihee, Nami and Heeae have come up with what they think is a perfect plan to kidnap Yosep. However, on that particular day, Yosep changes his schedule. When the women find him, he is unconscious and alone in his vehicle. When he wakes he has no idea where he is, with Conveniently, no memory of the events that led him there. His chest is bandaged and his legs held in splints, with the women looking after him. They tell him that he was involved in a car accident.

This isn’t a crime novel in the usual sense. At its best it has gothic elements and leans into the horror genre. The opening fifty pages, and the last fifty pages are particularly strong, but there is an inflated mid-section during which it is easy to lose attention.

My GoodReads score 4 / 5

The Holy Boy – La Valle dei Sorrisi – 2025

This is one of those films that is best enjoyed if the genre is not revealed. I do occasionally have an issue with the fact that attaching a genre to a film can sometimes be a spoiler. Fortunately, I had forgotten what genre the descriptions had quoted.

It is set in the remote Italian mountain village of Remis, a quiet place to say the least, with little more than a shop, a tavern, and a high school. The Italian title of the film translates as ‘valley of smiles’.

Former champion judo star Sergio Rossetti has been lured by a temporary job teaching PE in the school. Struggling with grief and guilt after a recent loss, he hopes the tranquility of the place will help him recover. His arrival is big news. The teachers line up to greet him and the students have painted a welcome banner celebrating his peak judo victory. Sergio tears it down and makes the class of 15 year olds run laps.

After an interaction with of his class, Matteo, Sergio finds his pain has disappeared, miraculously it seems. Matteo, a strange and solitary boy with a stripe of albinism affecting a part of his hair, one eyebrow and half a set of eyelashes, has the ability to remove a tormented soul’s unhappiness, simply by hugging them.

The director, Paolo Strippoli, gets the best out of the two main performances, the temporary PE teacher and the boy. The cinematography is understated and appropriate, with the backdrop of the snow covered Alps. What materialises is a fascinating view on the theme of grief.

IMDb score 6.7 / 10 – My score 7 / 10