Romanzo criminale

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..

As the history of modern (1970-95) Italy plays out - the kidnapping of Aldo Mora, the Bologna bombing etc. - a ruthless gang of outsiders are successfully muscling in on Rome's lucrative drug and gambling rackets. Meanwhile, a hard-nosed detective is tracking their activities, seeking evidence to put them away. And lurking even deeper in the background are State black ops figures who may or may not be manipulating both the criminals and the events themselves.

I was expecting the sort of cheap crime exploitation movie that proliferated in Italian cinema back in the 70s, but this is a different, much more ambitious and better type of movie. Crime Novel is structured very much like an Italian version of American Gangster. It has the same intimate yet gritty feel, the same long slow story arc, playing out over years against a background of world events; the dedicated cop who seems like the only police official who sees his duty as catching criminals rather than taking bribes; and drug dealers who see themselves as businessmen providing a service rather than villains, and most of time they are.

The focus is clearly on the gang. They grew up together in the streets. Crime and friendship are what holds them together. They have strong loyalties to those closest to them but can be ruthless to those who oppose them. Individually, they have frailties, but together they are formidable. The script is structured to provide each of the central characters with plenty of screen time, and its strong dialogue and intimate tone create very multi-dimensional and mostly sympathetic portraits.

The resulting movie is very watchable and a worthy companion piece to movies like Carlito's Way, Scarface and American Gangster. Recommended.

There is long tradition in Italian cinema in which the hero is a thief or a pathetic loser or a criminal or, like in "Romanzo Criminale" all three. Part of the tradition is to humanize the beasts, to give them feelings, to make us feel for them. Here we're giving an endless romance based on the real life Magliana band, a bunch of heartless, violent thugs that dominated the Roman gangland in the 70's. Michele Placido and his script writers concoct a confused and confusing document that is as annoying, tedious and opportunistic as it is long, endless really. There is, however, one big plus in its favor, the actors. They are given a sketchy draw of their perverse characters but they go for it with body and soul. Kim Rossi Stuart's tormented Freddo exudes a cutting pain that makes you think he has a conscience. Claudio Santamaria projects danger without even trying and the "Libanese" is played by an actor totally new to me, Pierfrancesco Favino, that gives the best performance by an Italian Actor in many, many moons. Riccardo Scamarcio has a face to launch a thousand ships but unfortunately no character and Stefano Accorsi is totally unbelievable in a character that is nothing short of absurd. Explosions, production values, American style editing, but very slow pacing, a brilliant dirty photography by the great Luca Bigazzi. What a pity that with all of this talent available the end result is so mediocre.

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 read the book some years ago, and was really excited that a movie was going to be made out of it. The plot was just perfect and the characters strong enough to work well on screen. Well the movie is quite disappointing, and not because of the script, which in a way does work (except maybe for a foreign audience who will not catch all the political implications of the movie), but for Michele Placido's poor television style of directing and (mainly) for the choice of (most) the actors. These guys should be the worst criminals Rome had ever seen, people you would not have the guts to see in the eyes, but the actors chosen are all the cool and beautiful teenager idols of Italian cinema, surely good actors, but not in the right place this time. This movie could have been a great opportunity to finally export some good Italian cinema...i'm afraid we'll have to wait much more!