Santino's support

Snippet

Weeks would pass by painfully slowly for Santino. He constantly had things to study. His father, Giovanni, would always pressure him about learning about the Camorra and the High Table. He'd compare him to Gianna all the time, which would just discourage the younger D'Antonio even more. Gianna was older than him, appearing more mature than him as well, he wished father would look at him the same way he would look at her. But all he could do was try to pretend he cared about what he was being taught. Besides, it was getting really intense when he had to watch men getting beaten up by his father's people.

Santino liked art, mythology, history, he wanted to learn about those things. It was obvious he wasn't father's favorite, so why couldn't Giovanni just let him be? He was 23 after all. Then again, the answer was pretty obvious. Santino was still a D'Antonio, he had to know everything about the Camorra and the High Table just to not be a complete disappointment. His father wasn't young anymore either, the lung cancer diagnosis really worsened his behavior, so it was expected that he was going to teach his children everything important.

There was another thing Santino enjoyed. He enjoyed it very much. He actually had a friend who also liked his company as well. John Wick was his name. They met when John was having one of his training as an assassin and Santino was observing the process. John was the best out of his group, out of everyone actually, and that was something Santino admired a lot. The passion and sheer will John was showing was incredible. So he made the first approach, and they started talking. It was a bit awkward at first since John seemed like a quiet guy, but D'Antonio was working well with it. After a few months, they became close friends. And probably the only friends they have. John would often invite Santino over at his place to hang out, or go out somewhere and Santino would gladly accept when he could.

Sometimes it looked more like a date than a hangout, and a part of Santino actually liked that. John was attractive after all, he couldn't lie to himself. And he liked guys after all. It was something he had to hide from his father all his life, Giovanni couldn't know because it wouldn't end up good for him. He had only talked about that with Gianna who was supportive and would jokingly tease him, and eventually he talked about it with John, who was also supportive. Maybe he was worried about how he'd react, but it really didn't change anything about their friendship. John would still smile at him when he'd come over and listen to him.

It had been two weeks since they last saw each other due to Santino's studies being overwhelming and his father being even more pressuring, but finally Giovanni was going on a business trip. Which meant freedom for Santino.

“Hey, I'm free for a whole week, father is leaving for a business trip. Is your offer still up?”

Santino sent the message, hoping that John would reply fast. Sometimes he'd reply a bit later because of training or if he was taking a nap.

“Yeah, I was just about to ask. Of course it still is, I missed our hangouts and you know you're always welcomed here.”

John replied, and Santino couldn't help but to smile at the message. It was nice to be reminded that he was always welcomed at his place.

“You're smiling at your phone again,” Gianna teased playfully, passing by her brother, giving him a little smirk.

“Yes, because I finally get to escape from this place for a day,” Santino muttered, putting his phone into his pocket before Gianna threw more teasing words at him.

“What is his name again? John?” Gianna asked, putting on her lipstick.

“I already told you that so many times,” the younger D'Antonio sighed, rubbing his eyes closed.

“Cassian told me he knows him. He was a quiet guy, didn't talk unless spoken to,” Gianna said, checking her makeup in the mirror. “Sometimes a bit scary because of how good he was at his training. I didn't know you were into those types of guys.” But she still didn't stop with her teasing.

“We are just friends and you know that,” Santino snapped. “I like going to his place because we actually have a lot in common and I can finally relax somewhere.

“Oh, I'm sure you can relax with him,” Gianna chuckled, and Santino instantly regretted saying anything.

“Seriously…” Santino murmured, slightly blushing from embarrassment.

“Have you ever slept over?” She asked.

“No. Why?”

“Tonight you probably will. I have a friend coming over as well.” Of course she did, Santino wanted to just disappear at this point.

“I might never return,” he muttered as he walked away into his room. Now when he was thinking about it, a sleep over at John's place would be nice. It was a calm place, the atmosphere felt a lot better than at his own place. But then again, he felt embarrassed because of the whole situation.

“Is it okay if I stay over tonight? My sister is… annoying.”

He sent the message, feeling awkward but it was better to ask now and at least prepare John.

“Yeah sure. Don't worry about it.”

Said the reply from John.

Santino smiled again, he was excited about seeing his best friend. And maybe the sleep over was a good thing after all. Well, he wouldn't have to see Gianna and her friend Cassian. That always made him feel awkward even if Cassian was friendly with him. He would finally get to spend longer time with John, be near him, talk with him, listen to his voice. John's voice… It was really calming, so pleasant to listen to. It had a good impact on Santino, well, John overall had a good effect on him.

Santino packed a shirt and pants for sleeping into a small bag just for the necessary stuff. It was kinda like a bag for a speaker that he rarely used due to his father's strict orders, but it was useful for things like these. He was curious what they would do today, probably play that video game from last time, or talk about John's new book collection he started. Either way, he couldn't wait. He was wearing one of his favorite dark blue shirts with buttons, the top button unbuttoned on his collar. He really liked to dress that way, and John would often compliment him on his outfits. Santino knew how to dress for any occasion, even if it was just a hangout.

Thankfully, John's place wasn't far away from the D'Antonio mansion. Santino would always drive his cars a bit faster since there was no one on those roads. It was John's suggestion for letting out some steam. Driving around, especially at night, would help him calm his nerves.

“If your dad pisses you off and I'm not around, try going out for a drive. It helps me out, maybe it could help you out too.” Santino remembered the suggestion, and it became a part of his habit.

Finally, Santino arrived at John's place, parking in his yard, in front of the garage. He just got out of the car when John showed up at the door.

“Heard your car,” he greeted with a soft smile, standing by the door. “I'm glad to see you.”

“Glad to see you too.” Santino smiled and gave a nod, walking up to John.

“Not an Italian this time,” the other man commented, checking out Santino's car. He usually came with an Italian brand, but he had a few more that weren't, and John liked cars so he would always comment and check it out.

“You noticed, as usual,” D'Antonio said, feeling proud of the cars he owned. The only reason he was thankful for being born in this family. He loved his Italian cars, the Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini, Lancia, but he also had a lot of love for Mercedes, Porsche, Audi and similar. John, so far, admired any of his cars. This time it was a beautiful black Mercedes, it had the style that John really appreciated.

“You always drive Italian, this is a nice change,” John noted, giving a playful smirk as he glanced at the car a bit more.

“Thought I'd take this one for a drive today.” It had been a while anyway.

John hummed in agreement before he got his attention back to his companion.

“C’mon, let's get inside. The pizzas are still hot, they got here just a few minutes before you,” he said, patting Santino's shoulder to follow him inside.

If you're going to watch this movie, there are, I believe 2 scenes where someone forces themselves on him. A guy kissed him, forced himself onto Elias and the other one was an older woman than him who took advantage of his vulnerability. It was uncomfortable, and it was the point to make the viewer feel uncomfortable (in my opinion) mainly because Elias is a more innocent type of character. None of that was graphic or violent. It was uncomfortable to watch, yes, and I understand it could still feel triggering for some, which is why I wrote this :).

Elias.... protect him. He was taken advantage of throughout the whole movie, there was little people who genuinely helped. I think it shows reality well. I felt so bad for him, he was so precious. He trusted literally anyone who showed him the tiniest amount of kindness even the fake kindness because he didn't realize it until something happened. I cried for him, especially when HE CRIED and it was just so sad. He went through all that for literally nothing. To see that damn magician in Paris. That magician seemed so important to Elias but Elias meant nothing to that magician and that's just so sad.

Like I said, it shows reality of our world so I'll mention a moment where he got his money stollen by an old guy who offered to drive him to Paris but he demanded more money than Elias offered so guy took pretty much all he had and as Elias was walking to the passenger door, the guy drove off. And there's been many moments where Elias' kindness and vulnerability got taken advantage of. He was naive, he believed in good, he was constantly in vulnerable situations where he had no control but to follow what he was told. He just wanted to go to Paris and see the magician. And in the end, the police came (he was an immigrant) yet... nothing happened. He walked towards the Eiffel Tower and.... that's it. Interesting ending... ig it's up to us audience to think what happened, BUT I'm planning to rewatch it anyway, so maybe I'll understand it all better.

Overall, Riccardo's incredible performance, I felt so much empathy for Elias, I was so shook to see what was happening to him, you can really feel his emotions even just based on his body language and facial expressions. Like I said, he doesn't speak much in the movie, and really, he didn't even need to. Elias was that type of character who didn't need to speak that much to be understood from an audience perspective. You can relate to him easily, you can feel bad for him, you can feel protective, etc.

Here you can see him crying after he managed to get to the magician. And the magician kinda didn't care. Didn't care at all in my opinion.

Here he was eating someone's leftovers of food from a restaurant and he told the guy that he was hungry and luckily the guy allowed him to eat but to do it quickly. Rare moment of kindness but also bare minimum.

I like how this was filmed as well. It had really good camera work, some shots made Elias look isolated from everyone (which he was, it's his character), like he was in the center, focus was on him even when there were more people around him, in my opinion made him stuck out from everyone else. Because he was on constant edge because of the police and he just had that ONE wish that he wanted to fulfill. So he tried everything and I mean EVERYTHING to get to Paris. He endured so much. He went through so much, he was used by some people (he was SAd but he didn't quite understand it, didn't see it that way, that's my opinion), etc. He was innocent, he would laugh awkwardly because some people were because he didn't understand them even if they were laughing at him, mocking him. Like... protect him. Justice for Elias.

You can see how out of the place he looks because he was lost and scared of the police, just trying his best to find the place he was looking for. He almost got ran over by these people.

I do recommend this movie, really. It feels different, Riccardo Scamarcio was incredible here and Elias' whole journey was sad but interesting, and you could feel empathy for him.