Weekend films

'Nino', a first work you won't forget

One of the season's most intense and interesting debuts is arriving in cinemas. Also among the new releases is the highly anticipated 'The Devil Wears Prada 2'

by Andrea Chimento

1 May 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

An extremely mature debut: it sounds like an oxymoron but is instead one of many possible ways to describe 'Nino', one of the season's most important and intense first works.

Directed by Pauline Loquès, this French feature film arrives in our cinemas after having been presented at the Semaine de la Critique of the Cannes Film Festival 2025 and having participated in numerous international festivals, from Toronto to Rome.

At the centre is the story of a Parisian boy who, at the threshold of his thirties, is forced to come to terms with the sudden fragility of life.

On the eve of his 29th birthday, during a banal medical check-up, Nino receives a devastating diagnosis: a cancer of the trachea requiring immediate and aggressive treatment. The doctors talk to him about chemo and decisions to be taken quickly, but Nino, accustomed to a life of hesitations, ties that never run deep and choices always postponed, is paralysed.

“Nino” e gli altri film della settimana
Photogallery4 foto

Moreover, he discovers he has forgotten his house keys on the very day of his diagnosis and thus finds himself wandering around a cold Paris that seems to reflect his state of mind.

The French capital is thus transformed into a real emotional state with an allegorical flavour in this film shot with class and written with the right delicacy, despite the complex subject matter it deals with.

The need for understanding

Recalling some great films in the history of French cinema ("Cléo dalle 5 alle 7" by Agnès Varda, in primis), debutant Pauline Loquès treats a truly burning subject with the right empathetic transport, avoiding the many rhetorical traps she finds along the way and achieving a thoroughly credible and heartfelt performance even from her young protagonist, Théodore Pellerin.

His Nino is a boy stuck in a present he cannot manage and afraid of a future that suddenly becomes uncertain. He is a character who cannot fully confide in himself, but in whom emerges a deep need for human warmth and understanding, as he demonstrates in fact in all his encounters with the people with whom he will come face to face after that terrifying outcome.

It is not an easy viewing of 'Nino', but it is really worth it, not least because it is one of those films that you keep thinking back to in the days following the viewing.

The Devil Wears Prada 2

Among the most anticipated titles of the week is 'The Devil Wears Prada 2', a sequel to the 2006 cult film.

David Frankel is still directing and all the main faces of the cast - from Anne Hathaway to Meryl Streep, from Emily Blunt to Stanley Tucci - return in this production that will please the many fans of the previous chapter.

Miranda, the iconic and feared editor-in-chief of the prestigious Runway magazine, after years of unchallenged dominance in the fashion world has to deal with the decline of print media and the realisation that retirement is getting closer.

This is the starting point for this polite and pleasant sequel, capable of making people smile while playing it safe.

This film does not take great risks, but this is not a major limitation, as it is in any case a comedy that does its job well, thanks also to the work of a group of actresses and actors who are fully on the mark.

If you don't ask too much of it, you will certainly be rewarded, despite some narrative predictability that could have been avoided.