Svetlana Cvetko has spent most of her time in the cinematography/photography side of filmmaking. "Show Me What You Got" marks her second time directing a full-length feature. It is a gorgeous film to look at, which makes sense, considering her previous experience. Unfortunately, there's not much of a plot.
Marcello (Mattia Minasi) is the spoiled son of an Italian soap opera superstar who has fled to L.A. to get away from his girlfriend in Italy and to live off daddy's money. Dad arranges meetings with acting agents and deal-makers, but Marcello blows off many of the meetings. He can't be bothered.
Nassim (Neyssan Falahi) is visiting from Iran. He's an unsuccessful personal trainer that Marcello runs into at the beach. He has nowhere to live so he couch-surfs at different people's houses. Nassim is supposed to fly home to Iran on the day he meets Marcello, but he decides to stay in L.A.
The pair ends up in a beach café after Marcello bloodies Nassim's nose by accident. A waitress, Cristina (Cristina Rambaldi), brings them ice to help Nassim. After work, she comes outside, where the men are waiting for her.
A few minutes later, the three of them are off together on an adventure of sex and lounging around. Marcello is the only one who has any money and a place to live, so he foots the bill for all of it, or to be more accurate, Marcello's father pays for everything.
Aside from what I have just written, almost nothing else happens in "Show Me What You Got", and that's its biggest problem. Everything looks great, the performances are fine, the direction is well-done, but there is almost zero tension and pretty much no story. The film simply doesn't show us enough.
| Movie title | Show Me What You Got |
|---|---|
| Release year | 2019 |
| MPAA Rating | NR |
| Our rating | |
| Summary | Two young people with little ambition live off a third one with even less ambition, whose dad has lots of money. Very little happens. |
