This is an uneasy mix of the "rise and fall gangster movie, à la Goodfellas or Scarface, and the social panorama of The Best of Youth. Unfortunately, the design of the former wins out over the ambitions of the latter.
Stretching over decades, it tells the story of an Italian criminal named the Lebanese, who dreams of rising to the top of the underworld in Rome. The 70s see him and his cohorts, Dandy and Ice, taking their drug money and parlaying it into an empire that encompasses the mafia, left-wing terrorists and certain easily corruptible government elements.
Romanzo Criminale tries to weave this story into the history of Italy, roping in everything from the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro to the fall of communism and its redefinition of political power, but the film never quite manages to raise above genre clichés. Whatever its political position, Romanzo Criminale satisfies all requirements, including the gangster who wants to keep his brother off of junk, the stormy relationship between a wise guy and a prostitute, and the singularly dim-witted cop who cant keep his hands off of said hooker as well.
The movie looks very good indeed and has some great spiky music choices but its the same old story weve been hearing since Scorsese fired the first volley and everybody followed suit. Fans of the genre will find lots of things to like but it never manages to make good on its higher ambitions despite a distended running time and all manner of stylistic curlicues.
As it turns out, analytical aspirations mean little when the characters they affect arent convincing.
(Mongrel Media)Stretching over decades, it tells the story of an Italian criminal named the Lebanese, who dreams of rising to the top of the underworld in Rome. The 70s see him and his cohorts, Dandy and Ice, taking their drug money and parlaying it into an empire that encompasses the mafia, left-wing terrorists and certain easily corruptible government elements.
Romanzo Criminale tries to weave this story into the history of Italy, roping in everything from the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro to the fall of communism and its redefinition of political power, but the film never quite manages to raise above genre clichés. Whatever its political position, Romanzo Criminale satisfies all requirements, including the gangster who wants to keep his brother off of junk, the stormy relationship between a wise guy and a prostitute, and the singularly dim-witted cop who cant keep his hands off of said hooker as well.
The movie looks very good indeed and has some great spiky music choices but its the same old story weve been hearing since Scorsese fired the first volley and everybody followed suit. Fans of the genre will find lots of things to like but it never manages to make good on its higher ambitions despite a distended running time and all manner of stylistic curlicues.
As it turns out, analytical aspirations mean little when the characters they affect arent convincing.