TWIN FLOWER: Home video debut for Laura Luchetti's Sardinia-set, kids-on-the-run movie

There's a lot to like about this Film Movement offering set in some alternately beautiful and grungy locations on the picturesque island of Sardinia. TWIN FLOWER takes its title from some of the twinned blooms our heroine, Anna, tends in the nursery at which she finds work while on the run from a nasty human trafficker who wants her back, and now! Anna initially tries to separate these flowers -- which serve as metaphor for the relationship concurrently forming between her and the young man, an illegal immigrant from Côte d'Ivoire, who has befriended and then bonded with her -- but, no, as the nursery owner explains to Anna, these twin blooms must be left as one.

Written and directed by budding Italian filmmaker Laura Luchetti (shown at left) with enough skill to generally ease us over the bumpier/lumpier sections -- too much coincidence and melodrama, particularly toward the finale -- the movie boasts two very good performances from its young leading actors, whom we shall surely see again soon. Anna is played by newcomer Anastasiya Bogach (below, left, and above right) with a gruff, grim exterior that clearly masks a roiling inner fire. Something has happened that appears to have rendered our girl speechless. Slowly, via short, swift flashbacks, we learn her story.

This is more than Ms Luchetti gives to her hero, Basim, of whose history we learn almost nothing, save where he is from. But thanks to the commanding presence and singular beauty of co-star Kallil Kone (above, right; below, left), also making his movie debut, a full-bodied character blooms via his performance, too.

Basim is infinitely more charming and outgoing than Anna, but when negatively aroused he can do every bit as much damage as she. There is surprisingly little dialog in Twin Flower, and what there is often proves untrustworthy in any case. What people do is what matters here, not what they say. Anna's own family, we soon learn, turns out to be involved in a less than edifying occupation.

Interestingly enough, here is yet another movie set in Sardinia (as is Daughter of Mine) that makes TrustMovies want to go there just to see the place -- which looks, as usual, utterly gorgeous -- but somehow avoid the populace, who seem anywhere from backward and/or unfriendly to outright dangerous. Even when they're helpful, you still kind of question their motives.

In any case, Ms Luchetti and her two leading actors more than make up for the growing coincidence and melodrama of Twin Flower. I hope to see all of their work again soon. From Film Movement, in Italian and French with English subtitles and running just 96 minutes, the movie makes its DVD and digital debut tomorrow, Tuesday, December 24 -- available for purchase and/or rental.