Southern Italy, the 1950s. For those born on the island, “the outside world” feels impossibly far away. Mario’s friends leave one after another for America, and only postcards make their way back to the island. Beyond the sea, in “America,” they begin entirely new lives. Meanwhile, Mario drifts through his days with a restless frustration he cannot name, skipping work helping his fisherman father with excuses of “feeling under the weather.” His father tells him, “America, Japan—anywhere is fine. Just get a job.” It is reasonable advice. Yet there are places inside a young man that reason alone cannot reach. Mario is searching for something, though he himself does not yet know what it is. One […]