La paranza dei bambini

Good movie about the life of a very young gang that morphs into the new generation of the mob. It's directed very dryly which adds to the realism, but it falls into some of the usual tropes of mob movies. Solid performances throughout.

The popularity of Italian language gang movies and TV shows has risen to high level in recent years and we have Gomorrah and Suburra to thank for that and while Piranhas isn't quite up to their standards, it's still an interesting look at the underclasses in Napoli .

Six 15-year-old boys deal drugs and use assault rifles to rule their neighborhood in Naples, interested only in making money, wearing designer clothes and surviving in a world where they believe they have no future.

There isn't much of a story in this film . It flows like the boys lives . Without a care . The kids live for today and that's the way the movie is made . Not a great deal of structure but plenty of spontaneity. They probably know things are never going to turn out well but they are going to enjoy it while they can .

Exactly as it did watching it .

The film evidently won the screenplay award at Berlin because it is very true to ground reality of Naples. The title is appropriate. Teenagers who cannot see a future, become small time Godfathers, collecting protection money and selling drugs, working in large groups to get a menacing visibility. My problem with the film: where are the cops? You see them just once during a wedding dinner sequence.

The film apparently uses non-actors. The lead role of Nicola played by Francesco di Napoli is notable, as is the role of his screen mother toiling away to make ends meet. Nicola's dad is never shown or discussed. Francesco could go places as an actor under the right director.

Average film--nothing great

This afternoon, I discovered this rather interesting film without having preliminary read the eponymous book written by Roberto Saviano and published in 2018: a band of eight teenage boys still eating chocolate cookies and arguing with the little brother when a packet of biscuits was emptied without their preliminary agreement, take opportunely advantage of the fall of the Mafioso of their Neapolitan district to become caliph instead of the caliph, like Iznogoud in the famous cartoon created by René Goscinny and Jean Tabary, but with ethics and values like Vito Corleone played by Robert De Niro in Le parrain II (1974). I recognized the mesmerizing atmosphere of Naples, with its manifold alleys as hilly as lively. Moreover, the cast is overall of high quality, especially the main actor Francesco Di Napoli.

I was surprised the ratings weren't higher. This is better than almost every modern Italian gangster movie. The acting is amazing and direction is very good. Paced very well. Nothing that unique in terms of plot but executed extremely well.