Lack of good storyline.

Excellent, a Must See

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Just saw this movie at the International film Showcase in Orinda, California with a group of 18. Everyone really liked it and clapped at the end. Other reviewers have told you what the movie was about. I will just say that if you get the opportunity to see it, do it. We enjoyed talking about it at coffee after the movie, and we even had somebody from Belgium to ask if it was accurate, so a big thumbs up.

Background: Had never heard of Rocco Granata. Chanced on this film on TV one evening. Started watching it because of the beautiful photography, and excellent acting. Watched it to the end.On to the critic "Marina" recounts the early life of Italian-Belgian singer Rocco Granata (born 1938, first big success in 1959), until he starts becoming famous. One could be worried about the clichés of poor family from Calabria moving to Netherlands, father working as a miner but son wanted to only play music and sing, local population is racist and to make matters worse the immigrant starts liking a local girl, and so on - but no, this is done really well, with lots of subtlety! And the acting is just so good! None of the actors is famous, I guess the most famous (or least unknown) is the Dutch girlfriend (Evelien Bosmans), who has had several roles on local TV.Did I mention that the photography was very beautiful, but without overdoing it either?Well worth watching. Possibly even re-watching.

At first I don't know that this movie is a real-life story. About Rocco Granata, legendary Italian musician from Belgium because for me this movie is not epic enough, you can see it from the poster, why in any way in the world they must use that poster about someone real, who is still alive. Everything in this movie happen randomly, not have any gripping moment. Like they suddenly move to Belgium, how Rocco got friend, how Rocco really love this girl but never know her name and never bother to asking someone about it in 10 years although that girl just live nearby. The most frustrating part is when Rocco become success, they don't have any special technique to make us happy with him too because it just suddenly happen,just like that. No good acting here because I think they just do the best they can and we appreciate that. If we are human, we know that everyone's life are good enough to make a blockbuster movie because you know everyday is a surprise and we don't know what will happen later. Life sure got a lot of twist but not "Rocco Granata's life", its not his fault anyway, they just fail to make it good. Anyway, for me this movie is just a total mediocre where you can enjoy it and forget it tomorrow. Just enjoy the "Marina" song by Rocco Granata.

"Marina" (2013 release from Belgium; 120 min.) is a bio-pic on the early years of Belgian singer Rocco Grenata. The movie looks at his earliest days, growing up in Italy and eventually moving to Belgium in the 1950s with his family (his dad took a job as a "guest worker" in the coal mines of Limburg). Young Rocco became fixated on playing the accordion and singing, all against the wishes of his stern dad. The movie concludes when young Rocco finally achieves a breakthrough with his song "Marina", which originally was the B side of his first single.Several comments: this is a Flemish movie directed by Stijn Coninx, best known for the (Oscar-nominated) bio-pic "Daens" in the 1990s. I mention "Flemish" (instead of Belgian), because the movie indeed is set in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking, northern part of Belgium. Coninx does an excellent job bring the 1950s to life with vivid details, and if you grew up in Belgium (like I did), this will feel very authentic. The issue of the so-called "guest workers" was then (and still is now) a thorny and emotional issue. Rampant discrimination against guest workers took place and the movie does not duck that part of the story, on the contrary.Apart from the story itself of how young Rocco Grenata made it, the acting performances in the movie are nothing short of stellar, none more so than Mateo Simoni in the role of Rocco, as well as Evelien Bosmans as his on-again, off-again girlfriend Helena. She is one of the very best acting talents to come out of Belgium in a long time, and surely we have not seen the last of her.Bottom line: I was floored and surprised (but in the best possible way) how good this movie was. "Marina" has been a runaway box office smash in Belgium (or certainly in Flanders). I saw the movie during a recent family visit to Belgium, and even though this has been playing for weeks already and I went to see in on a week day matinée, the theatre I saw this at was absolutely packed. The audience gave a spontaneous applause at the end of the movie, just to give you an idea how well this movie has been received. If you have a chance to see this, by all means do not miss it! "Marina" is HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!