“An absolute blast. Includes documentary footage, wealthy decadence, left-wing politics, angry speeches (in Italian!), beautiful women, square-jawed men, quotations from Baudelaire and the heroic deployment of manual typewriters, hand-rolled cigarettes, ascots and Volvo sedans. EVERYTHING I LOVE IN MOVIES, more or less.” – A.O. Scott, The New York Times

“A KALEIDOSCOPIC HISTORICAL FANTASIA that seems possessed by the ghosts of Italian cinema.” – Imogen Sara Smith, Film Comment

“One of the most epic-feeling Italian movies in years, A THROWBACK TO ’70s-ERA BIG-CANVAS STATEMENTS. Lead actor Luca Marinelli, rousing in every scene, comes within hailing distance of the young Robert De Niro.”

– Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York

“This could be the INTERNATIONAL BREAK-OUT OF THE SEASON.”

– Jordan Raup, The Film Stage

Adapted from a 1909 novel by Jack London yet set in a provocatively unspecified moment in Italy’s history, Martin Eden is a passionate and enthralling narrative fresco in the tradition of the great Italian classics. Martin (played by the marvelously committed Luca Marinelli) is a self-taught proletarian with artistic aspirations who hopes that his dreams of becoming a writer will help him rise above his station and marry a wealthy young university student (Jessica Cressy). The dissatisfactions of working-class toil and bourgeois success lead to political awakening and destructive anxiety in this enveloping, superbly mounted bildungsroman.

Italy / 129 min / In Italian with English subtitles