Easy Living (Peter and Orso Miyakawa, 2019): Italy

Reviewed by Jacob Mohler at the Santa Barbara International Festival 2020.

Easy Living is a beautifully made coming of age story about two Italian siblings, a French immigrant and an American tennis trainer. The siblings are friends with the French immigrant and are trying to help him cross the border into France so he can be with his wife and newborn baby. They can’t do this without the help of their new American friend. This film was directed by brothers Orso Miyakawa (Director and writer for Fumo) and Peter Miyakawa (Director and writer for Pastis).

The film basically revolves around brother and sister duo, Brando (played by James Miyakawa) and Camilla (played by Camilla Sevino Favro). Their parents are away so it’s just the two of them together. Camilla is small time drug dealer that smuggles medication for elderly people from France to Italy. Brando hangs out at the tennis club while she meets with the elderly people there. It’s there they meet the quirky American tennis trainer Don (played by Manoel Hudec). Don starts to form an attraction for Camilla and try’s to gain her attention. She’s not showing all that much of an interest in him.

While all of this is going on we are introduced to a friend of the siblings, Elvis (played by Alberto Boubakar Malanchino), an immigrant from France. We get to venture into his back story a little and find out that his wife and his unborn baby are over in France with her uncle. He’s been trying to get back to them but has had no luck.

Don continues to pursue Camilla and she continues to not give in. But when she finds out that Elvis is sleeping on the streets, she decides to have dinner with Don but invited Elvis and Brando. This gave her a way to sneak Elvis into Don’s house so that he’ll have a place to sleep. Don and Elvis start to bond and that’s when Elvis tells Don about why he wants to get over to France. Don, Camilla and Brando decide to hatch a plan to sneak Elvis into France without getting caught.

Don gets the plan to have them all dress up like they’re headed to a tennis tournament in France. That way the border security won’t be too concerned about who’s crossing the border. Just before they leave they decide it’s not the best idea to bring Brando. Just in case they get into trouble they don’t want him getting dragged into it so they plan to send him on the train to where their family lives. This way if Camilla gets arrested Brando will have someone to take care of him.

It’s time and they set off to take Elvis across the border. Will they make it without getting caught?

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It was by far, my favorite film from this years festival. It was entertaining and written very well. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet and interview both directors and writers Orso and Peter Miyakawa.

Getting to hear their input on what went on in the film process and what they thought about the film overall.

This film had an amazing cinematographer, Andrey Nuzhnny. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous and you could tell that the shots were carefully picked.

I absolutely loved this film and I’m so glad the Santa Barbara International Film Festival decided to play it. Definitely recommend anyone watches this film.