No matter how long you boil an egg, its heart will always stay softer than its shell. "Ovosodo," or hard-boiled egg, is the nickname given to both the young hero of this Italian coming-of-age film and to the district in Livorno where he lives. Piero needs a tough outer shell. But his toughness hides a sweet and vulnerable heart, so when his literature teacher lends him novels, he is not immune to their transporting powers. And when his friend Tommaso, a brash would-be rebel, whispers to him of revolution, Piero's eyes are opened to a world of possibilities beyond his cramped and stifling home. A spirited and sharp portrait of one working-class boy's discovery of the pain and sweetness of life, Hard-Boiled Egg proves Paolo Virzi a filmmaker of sensitivity and insight.