Fondi ’91 follows a team of 16 year old Jersey boys who travel to the small town of Fondi, Italy in 1991 to play in a soccer tournament. Some of the boys are very randy and keen to hook up with Italian fillies or stallions.
The exception is Anil (Raymond Ablack), a stereotypically reserved and studious boy of Indian descent who is incapable of asserting himself. He is also breathtakingly handsome—a good-looking south Asian version of Justin Long—and either his goodness or his looks attract the unsolicited attention of the two female characters.
Morally however, Anil fails to protect a young female when she is assaulted by his teammate. Guilt-ridden, he nonsensically follows her around, asking what actually happened, until she, in her own vengeful rage, sexually assaults him. (I’m not even going to address how stupid that plot device is…)
No lessons learned and no soccer
This is supposed to be a coming of age story. But no one learns anything, not even the teammate who is the prototype for a college serial rapist. Certainly no one played any soccer in the tournament. In fact, all the Jersey boys play with disembodied feet.
One surprise was the number of harsh reviews this barely distributed movie earned. I’ve already spent more time reviewing it than it deserves. Fondi ’91 is Canadian Writer-Director Dev Khanna’s feature film debut.
3 Soccer Movie Mom Rating = 3
Resources:
- Release Date: 2013-04-13 (Canada)
- IMDB
- Director: Dev Khanna
- Stars: Raymond Ablack
- Watch the Trailer
