Elisa is only forty when an incurable disease takes her from her husband and their daughter. Before her heart stops, Elisa finds a way to stay close to her: a gift for every birthday up to her adult age, 18 gifts to try to accompany her child's growth year after year.

Based on the title alone, one would assume director Francesco Amato’s “18 Presents,” a terminal-illness-themed melodrama about a self-destructive young woman coping with the death of her mother, would place its emphasis on the special gifts the protagonist receives each year until adulthood.

Not exactly. While this Italian-language weepie blessedly sidesteps schmaltz and saccharine, it disappointingly fails to capitalize on its promised premise. Neither emotional enough to pay proper tribute to the true story it captures, nor hokey enough to qualify as “so bad, it’s good,” this is a flaccid, failed attempt at heart-tugging poignancy.

Ultra-organized 40-year-old Elisa (Vittoria Puccini) seems to have it all. A good job running a temp agency. A decent-sized house in the Italian suburbs with her steady boyfriend (Edoardo Leo), who loves her dearly.

Plus, she’s pregnant with a healthy baby girl. But on the same day that a slight problem arises in her third trimester, she’s dealt devastating news that she has an inoperable cancerous tumor and will not live to see her daughter grow up.

Genre: Drama

Release Date: Jan 2020

Stars: Vittoria Puccini, Benedetta Porcaroli, Edoardo Leo

Source: 18.Presents.2020.iNTERNAL.1080p.WEB.x264-SECRECY

Language: Italian

Subtitle Language: English

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10816484/

☀️ 18 Presents (2020) ⇒ Video Link

☀️ 18 Presents (2020) ⇒ Subtitled