Bellissima

Maria is a 14-year-old ballet student whose figure and good looks have encouraged her hairdresser mother, a chain-smoking nightmare in a Dolly Parton frightwig, to push her into an unwanted career as an under-age model. Writer/director Urbanski skilfully negotiates the eventual role reversal, as mom falls pregnant, and Maria rebels in a runaway spree of sexual and other initiations. He keeps it all lively, with fresh hand-held perspectives, a good feel for the tacky mileu and, importantly, an open, almost mischievously non-judgmental attitude to his characters.