Don't Be Cruel

Everyone has their own Chimera, something they try to achieve but never manage to find. For Arthur, the Chimera looks like the woman he lost, Beniamina. In an adventurous journey between the living and the dead, between forests and cities, between celebrations and solitudes, the intertwined destinies of these characters unfold, all in search of the Chimera.

Sanpietro, the reclusive concierge of an apartment building, has the keys to every unit. At night, he watches the lives of the residents from his dim, solitary studio; by day, he slips into their apartments, immersing himself in their routines and habits. But a chance encounter with the young son of a newly arrived tenant stirs something within him, driving Sanpietro toward a drastic act in his desperate attempt to ease his loneliness.

Alessandra and Elisa are fifteen, bound by an intense connection that shifts between closeness, desire, and subtle jealousy. Elisa is about to move abroad, and the looming distance charges every gesture with new weight. They tease, provoke, and cling to each other, as if holding on and pushing away were the same thing. What they can’t express surfaces in silences, in glances, in the fragile balance between them. Over the course of a long afternoon, following the path of a river, they drift along the edges of their world: boys who bully, men who blur boundaries, glimpses of an adult world they observe without fully understanding. In that uncertain space - shaped by fear, confusion, and desire - something cracks. An extreme act begins to take shape, driven by something deep, unspoken, and unresolved.

During a mountain trip, three children spend the afternoon playing war. When a local child asks to join them, he is given the role of the "enemy". This innocent choice will lead to unexpected consequences.