With her striped bag and matching cat, Aria, a nine-year-old girl, goes back and forth between her divorced parents. Unlike her older sisters, Aria has great sensitivity and is great at writing. However, nobody congratulates her when she receives prizes for her work. In her loneliness, Aria struggles to keep herself pure. The camera focuses on the worries and friendship of a little girl who needs her parents’ love. From the girl’s perspective, it observes her parents’ flashy but uncontrolled lives as celebrities. The film’s smart use of music also strengthens its uniqueness. For example, when Aria wanders between her mom and dad, cheerful tunes are repeated, strangely harmonizing with the girl’s troubled inner life. The diagonal views inside buildings and repeated crane shots also add to the unstable atmosphere. This heart-wrenching family film juxtaposing the child’s purity and insecurity against what, was screened for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival this year. It is the fourth feature by Italy’s world-renowned actress Asia Argento. (RHEE Soue-won)