I recently saw this at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival. writer/director Mani Maserat-Agha was in attendance at my screening for an audience Q&A. From a screenplay by Jens Jonsson Agha explained that he was inspired by the film Breaking Away to make this small budget film. Most of the cast are unknown teenagers including the two principal roles with Poyan Karimi as Mustafa/Massimo and Chanelle Lindell as Linnea. Mustafa is a nerdy Swedish soccer player of Iranian-born parents who along with his team is entered in an annual tournament in Gothborg. There he meets a team from Italy and begins practicing with them. He is groomed by one of the Italian players to attract girls and he takes up the persona of his invention in an Italian named Massimo. As Massimo he soon attracts the eye of the beautiful Swedish teen Linnea who as at the tournament with her flag team for the opening ceremonies. This is a bright and witty romantic comedy with two good lead performances, interesting characters and lot's of dry humor. Caution: it includes some nudity and sexual situations. I liked this a lot and would give it an 8.0 out of 10.

At first I thought this was going to be the Swedish version of BREAKING AWAY with a young man pretending to be Italian in order to get a popular girl, but, even though BREAKING AWAY is a fine film in its own right, CIAO BELLA goes much deeper and asks more questions, one of which is can a relationship succeed when it begins with lies. Here, almost no one is being honest, which, if you think about it, is pretty much like real life. Everyone lies. So, what is the answer to the question? You'll have to watch to find out.However, what I will tell you is I like this movie quite a lot. A little patience is required right up front but the payoff is worth the effort. I'll also tell you there's an absolutely gorgeous redhead co-starring in this little movie, and that's not a lie.