If “Be Careful What You Wish For” were a film genre, the Italian production Finally Dawn might be one of the better entries in it. Written and directed by Saverio Costanzo (who has directed multiple episodes of In Treatment and My Brilliant Friend, both HBO series), the film centers on Mimosa (Rebecca Antonaci), a young Roman woman during the 1950s who is being set up by her family with a socially awkward man. Not especially thrilled with the prospect of spending any time with him before their nuptials, Mimosa spends a great deal of time at the movies, especially American ones, which are about half of what plays at the local cinema.
Mimosa and her sister find out that a big sword-and-sandals film shooting in town needs extras, and the two go in to audition. Her sister is picked, but Mimosa refuses to show any skin, so she’s rejected. While searching for her sister to tell her she’s leaving, Mimosa runs into the film’s stars, Josephine Esperanto (Lily James, Baby Driver) and Sean Lockwood (Joe Keery, Stranger Things). When one of the extras playing Josephine’s hand maiden quits on the last day of filming, the actress specifically asks for Mimosa to stand by her side in the film’s climactic moment, a scene that also includes Nan Roth (Rachel Sennott), an actress who Sean is likely seeing on the side while dating Josephine.
After receiving a beautiful red dress as a thank you from the lead actress for stepping in at the last minute, Mimosa is invited to go out with the Josephine and Sean for a night out in and around Rome. Because he’s contractually bound to be in every third movie these days, Willem Dafoe plays Josephine’s driver and Italian translator, while also being Mimosa’s only safety net as the night progresses and she is thrown into what seems like a never-ending evening where Josephine introduces Mimosa as a Swedish poet for her own amusement, just to see how people react. All of the wonder and confusion play out beautifully on Antonaci’s face because she can’t believe she’s spending time with actors she’s loved on the screen for years. She’s hit on by showbiz scumbag producers and money men and protected by those who brought her there (most of the time).
Finally Dawn is a strange, charming, funny, and ultimately moving story about a young woman who had grown up isolated from anything remotely wild or unpredictable and is thrust into an evening during which she discovers just how much she’s been missing and how much life she still needs to live before getting hitched. There’s a background plot involving a wild lion from the film production running loose around the streets of Rome, and not surprisingly, the film doesn’t end until we find out exactly what happened to said creature. It’s a great moment, and it underscores the random, sometimes meandering, story being told. The film still mostly manages to pull its plot threads together and stick its landing with something resembling elegance. One of the most interesting and surreal coming-of-age stories I’ve seen in recent memory, Finally Dawn doesn’t always work, but the actors pulled me through with their depiction of old-school, movie-making chaos and tame debauchery.
The film is now playing in theaters and available on VOD.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider supporting Third Coast Review’s arts and culture coverage by making a donation. Choose the amount that works best for you, and know it goes directly to support our writers and contributors.
