Don’t Swat ‘Mosquito’: SBIFF Opening Night Film Is Subtle Charmer

The 41st Santa Barbara International Film Festival opens on February 4 with a single event at the Arlington Theatre, but the U.S. premiere of A Mosquito in the Ear is not an opening night to miss. The drama with dialogue in both English and Hindu focuses on the international adoption of a four-year-old girl in India by an American couple. It’s the feature film debut of Italy-born writer-director Nicola Rinciari, based on the graphic novel Una Zanzara nell’Orecchio by Andrea Ferraris. The graphic novel isitself is drawn from Andrea Ferraris’ own true-life experience, and stars Jake Lacy and Nazanin Boniadi as the would-be parents and Ruhi Pal as adoptee Sarvari.

The drama comes from Sarvari’s extreme resistance to leaving the overcrowded, underfunded orphanage for “a better life” in America, a situation not unfamiliar when families “rescue” an unwanted child overseas. 

“(My research into) what once seemed like the simple act of welcoming a child into a family led to more complex, personal questions such as: How much do you need to understand someone to form a meaningful relationship with them? And what must you leave behind to go through this process?” Rinciari says in his director’s statement. 

What’s most impressive about the film, beyond the terrific acting, scenery and story, is not only the apparent authenticity of the situation and the setting, but the remarkable restraint exhibited by Rinciari in relating the tale. The film is stunningly understated and immediately relatable, with not a moment of excess or over-the-top conflict. 

“I stumbled on the graphic novel and when I started reading, it immediately resonated on how authentic it is,” he said over the phone from L.A. “I came here when I was 18 – a completely different circumstance – but I understood that idea of the cross-cultural situation and interacting with people that are talking a different language than I do, and of leaving something that I really loved behind even for something I thought would be better. It turns out this situation is very common for international adoptees.”

To stay true-to-life, Rinciari reached out to the graphic novel’s author and illustrator, the couple whose story it represents, and, with his partner, even took a course about adopting a child from India. They also spent two months on location immersed in the culture and pre-production before rolling the cameras.

Adding to the authenticity, Ruhi Pal, who plays Sarvari, speaks perfect English, but not only spoke Hindi to the director during the casting process, but also did the same to Lacy as her would-be adoptive father, as the language barrier is part of the struggle in the story. 

“She waited until she got comfortable enough to start speaking English to him,” Rinciari said. 

What they saw in her in the casting process – “so much soul in her eyes while still being a true kid” – comes through in the final film. As does the positive intent of all of the characters despite the tensions and struggles triggered by the problems in the adoption process. 

“It’s about how people even in difficult situations are trying their best,” Rinciari said. “Even during the arguments, I often gave the direction to the actors that you’re trying not to argue. You’re actually trying to make the other person happy even though you are upset right now.”

Pairing Lacy – whose numerous credits include portraying the entitled male chauvinist Shane on the first season of The White Lotus, as husband Andrew to Nazanin Boniadi, who had stepped away from her busy acting career in 2022 to focus on the #WomanLifeFreedom uprising in Iran – was an inspired bit of casting. Both the tensions and the connection between the characters is palpable.

As is the sheer humanity of what is really a simple story but with cultural issues that could have become polemical in other hands.

“I come from European cinema that tends to be more understated, playing the moment so that it’s the audience that gives them meaning rather than the director trying to force an emotion on them,” Rinciari said. “Like with Moonlight, it’s an approach where it’s very understated and you can get drawn in, disappear as an audience and just follow the journey. And I also really wanted people to believe in this story, to understand and picture that everything that happens is real, even those moments that we altered for dramatic intent. When I showed it to the author of the graphic novel, the real parents, he said, ‘It felt like you were in India with us, that every moment in the film either happened or could have.’ That was the best thing.” 

In its own way, A Mosquito in the Ear also serves as a gentle antidote to the current moment in time. Not a protest but perhaps a parable that doesn’t hit you over the head but combats divisiveness through understanding and empathy. 

“That was super present in the film for me,” Rinciari said. “Bringing people together where others might tend to separate, is all about the value of understanding the other’s perspective. I feel that seeing things through the lens of a different culture is exactly the answer to what’s going on. If we did more of that, maybe we wouldn’t be in the situation we are.”

Kerrilee We Roll Along 

Two other locals who call our betwixt-the-mountains-and-the-sea slice of paradise home are also having world premieres of their feature film debuts during SBIFF. Stand By, Mother, written and directed by Kerrilee Gore in a reimagining of her own theatrical piece, follows a young boy traveling the world in an adventure to protect the planet after a mysterious book comes to life. The magical, musical movie is an allegory meant to educate children about their role in defending the Earth. 

Imbalance is Dale Griffiths Stamos’ story about an ethically ambiguous relationship between an esteemed philosophy professor (played by Sharon Lawrence) and her teaching assistant/graduate student in the wake of Title IX and the #MeToo movement. The film examines the power dynamics even in a consensual connection, and is the long-developing first feature from Stamos, a fixture at the famed Santa Barbara Writers Conference. 

Both movies have first screenings at SBIFF on February 10. See next week’s issue for more.