Sting like a Bee (2024)

Sting like a Bee

Considering short advertising films, Leone Balduzzi’s debut is like an advert for the Piaggio Ape: a three wheeled commercial vespa-like vehicle known for its compact size and ability to fly through Italy’s narrow streets (ape means bee in Italian). Balduzzi’s documentary takes place in southern Italy where a group of young people live. They love these strange little trikes but also struggle with living in small towns.

The film starts off focusing on the odd vehicles and then they become more of a stage as the story unfolds. It begins as a back-to-basics documentary where the director interviews different groups of teenagers about their love for the Ape. The interviews turn into conversations about relationships, sex, aids and many of them are shown to be pretty naive.

The director is just testing them because actually he is casting his new film which is a teenage love story that deals with aids but tries to be funny. So when they find out they might get to be in a film, even if it’s only as extras (because still it’s a film) their excitement spreads rapidly among other kids and then townspeople.

But there’s only so many of them that can take part though, and so we follow one main story which is about young teenage boy who meets teenage girl (the classic coming-of-age device) but gets worried about catching aids from her so decides to start distancing himself from her. There are some other stories bubbling under too like this upcoming Ape race or playful shooting incident gone wrong etc.

But mainly it’s about these teenagers and their beautiful Italian towns that offer them very little else Sting Like a Bee has whimsy and offbeatness running through its veins. But ultimately the movie buckles under its own weight as it tries to spread itself thinly over too many topics/characters without any real narrative focus.

Humour is big here characters’ naivety is touching and funny to watch, the drive of young people hungry for adventure is always delicious in a coming of age story, plus there’s the bloody breathtaking cinematography of the Italian countryside it just lifts everything so much higher. And these landscapes help tell the story too they really do. They let us and characters both reclaim our childhood and live through a summer of magic and mystery.

It never really feels like a documentary though, Sting Like a Bee so marketed as one but not authentic enough to be called that. At times it feels more like mockumentary even or parody. It just doesn’t feel comfortable in its own skin lacks fluidity and doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be/go (hybrid without an identity). More cross-contamination than cross-pollination. Fun little unconventional film with light-hearted premise but not much else behind it.

Watch Sting like a Bee For Free On Gomovies.