Romanzo criminale

Romanzo Criminale is a strange movie. I'm most of the time quite critical about what I see, but about this particular movie, I can't quite seem to make up my mind. I can find a thousand faults to it : the limited storyline doesn't really develop the historical and political context, the actions is sometimes quite difficult to follow, the characters are totally cliché (the-bad-gangster-guyswho falls in love with the-beautiful-virgin-mary-reincarnation, the repented hooker, the good policeman, the really bad godfathers with all their money, the villa by the sea and the twenty-five year old wife. And yet I enjoyed it. It's not the movie of the year but there's a certain something that makes it different, that saves it from being a total mess and a failure, and turns it into a mysterious movie.

Very good, though the story is very dramatized (and I'm Italian, so I know the story of my country).

It takes a real gangster group, link it with neo-fascist and communist actions, real characters and fictional ones, creepy cospirative figures...

It's very far from the criminal stories seen up to now in our country: the cop-movies was a genre abandoned since the '70s (they flourished in the period portrayed in Romanzo Criminale, mostly as a consequence of the feelings of the people against the political and criminal acts of these years).

But it's a very good movie, with solid story and great musics, one of the best in Italian cinematography of the last years (with "Dopo Mezzanotte / After Midnight" and "Le conseguenze dell'amore")

I completely disagree with the last writer. I found this film to be a High speed roller-coaster following the path of Crime in the last century of Rome's history. The Brutal Violence and callous disregard for the people they prey on washes away any chance of redemption for the Protagonist Anti-hero or the group of people he moves with & the writer makes no attempt to forgive them. The film glamourises their way of life yet inevitably does not end happily with only the strongest surviving and even them eventually being cut loose by the people who pull their Machavellian strings..Sex, drugs and violence reign supreme in a film that, although not perfect, paints a vivid picture of the blood spattered underbelly of Roman society. The only faults that I could raise about it would possibly be it's length which at times drags and could perhaps have done with a slightly less flabby cut..

It's not that "Romanzo criminale" is a bad movie. It's only a movie we've seen so many times (from the Godfather to Once Upon a Time in America) done so much better.

Storywise, although it is of Italian origin, "Romanzo" is as bland as any new mafia movie, dealing with revenge, honor and family. The script is rather tedious too, with very few moments of sparkle, and even though the movie looks good, it only starts to feel like a watchable movie in its last quarter. And as if it weren't enough that the film is mediocre, it also bears resemblance to an odyssey if we are to consider its playing time and the way I, as a viewer, interpreted it.

The one interesting aspect is related to the political facet of the mafia, and especially to the situation before the fall of the communist regimes. But this definitely doesn't make up for the weak plot. All there is...is a series of events, linked to one another, sprinkled with love but far too hollow to transcend. Sadly.

I confess I'm not Italian and don't really have a grasp on the historical significance of the 70's in Italy though I read Moravia's A Time of Innocence (I believe that was the English translation title) and liked it. The movie looked like it was made in contemporary times and the few references to the 70's were confusing as nobody looked like they did in that period. Given that, I loved the style, color, photography and editing and found the plot absorbing and the actors great for the parts. I haven't seen the extended version, don't know what it includes, but would like to, since I was never bored for a minute and it could have been longer as far as I was concerned. Kim Rossi Stuart was great, as were the other members of the 'band', though yes, he seemed out of his element playing a 'cold-blooded' killer. But his sensitivity and decline at the end worked for me. The other guys were great, as was Anna who played Patrizia. She was pretty stunning to look at and believable - when she was on the screen my eyes never wandered. The movie reminded me of Soavi's Uno Bianca in its hypersensitive style, which I loved, though Romanzo wasn't as tight or as suspenseful, I guess. And it wasn't scary either like Soavi's Ultima Pallottola. I don't know if it makes me shallow or what, but I liked the glossy, model feel of the movie a lot. Like I like Soavi's work. For my eyes it was a cinematic feast. Its apparent failings pointed out by other reviewers as a faithful adaptation of the material about the times didn't so much matter to me as I don't know that much about them anyway. I just enjoyed the movie as if it were taking place today and I think others like me might too.