Salvo

Whenever I read the words "arthouse action", I immediately think of Drive, I can't help it. It's an instinct. So yeah, sort of expect that same sort of atmosphere, and while the mood and pacing here is like that in a way, it's just not all that interesting. Inherently it is, the cinematography is quite good, as is the editing. The lead actor seems a bit empty, and not in the way that it worked in Drive. There could've perhaps been more there, seeing as how that's the way I really saw it not working. Still, there were some moments of inspired brilliance, the film wasn't always uninteresting, and it was nicely composed. by the end of it, I actually kind of liked it for some reason, and it's why I'm giving it more positive than negative despite my review not sounding like that at all

SALVO as written and directed by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza has won many awards. It is a lengthy (2 long hours) story (or view) of the life of a hit man and the reason it succeeds is the magnetic performance of Saleh Bakri ('The Band's Visit') who magnetizes the story with his penetrating gaze.

Salvo (Saleh Bakri) is a bodyguard and hit man for a Mafioso. After foiling an attack on his employer, Salvo hunts down the man who organized it – Renato - and encounters the man's blind sister, Rita (Sara Serraiocco). She causes Salvo to question himself and his existence. The camera focuses on close ups of Rita's face as she tries to disguise her fear by singing. Salvo performs the murder of Renato off screen while we see Rita's reaction. Salvo places his fingers over Rita's eyes and due to some sort of unexplained phenomena, cures her sight. She starts to see forms and shapes, but as the film goes on, her sight improves. Salvo buries Renato and keeps Rita in an empty factory for her security and the remainder of the film shows the transition of a solitary professional hit-man to a man who becomes vulnerable to human connection, offering an allegory with the inexplicable restoration of Rita's sight.

The film is in Italian, is long, dark and very atmospheric. Dialogue is scarce but well chosen. This is a mood piece with a message and well worth waiting it out to understand that message. Grady Harp, December 14

Salvo synopsis may seem like a tear jerker melodrama, but it isn't. This is the European art film at its best. Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai may come to your minds, but even that is like blockbuster in comparison with Salvo. Long shots, minimum of words, no music - that is Salvo. Salvo Mancuso. He is defined by his acts, not his words. The plot is revealed slowly and if you are right kind of spectator, you will enjoy calm atmosphere of this movie. There are some great sequences I won't spoil. This is definitely that kind of film where directors precisely thanked about each shot. This is sad film about lonely people who "live their lives like a rats" (a sentence one of the character says in the movie). If you want to be enjoyed, look somewhere else. if you like film noir, slow films and films where you see the creators know their work with images and sound, this might be for you.

It's certainly original. Name me another Mafioso hit-man movie that has at its centre a blind heroine whose traumatic experience at the hands of a killer seems to reverse the effects of her blindness. If we are in the territory of miraculous cures Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza's movie never stresses the fact but proceeds to take us down roads we may not be used to. A mostly silent Saleh Bakri is Salvo who, on a job to kill the man who has set him up, encounters the victim's blind sister, Rita, and rather than kill her takes her along for the ride. However, it would appear the shock has restored Rita's sight, at least partially, which seems as devastating to her as being kidnapped by a hit-man. Sara Serraiocco is excellent as Rita and Bakri is highly effective in the title role, particularly in view of the fact that he hardly ever opens his mouth.

Even leaving aside the blind girl scenario, "Salvo" is unusual in other ways. Salvo is fundamentally an existentialist character who hides away from the world and is waited on hand and foot. His encounter with Rita opens his eyes as much as it does hers, awakening in him a tenderness he may not have realized was there. It's also a film that takes its time. Salvo and Rita are often the only characters we see and the conventional thrills of the Mafioso movie are conspicuously absent. Nor is it a conventional love story; the relationship that develops between captor and captive doesn't go along conventional lines and, like much else in the picture, is mostly conducted in silence and in darkness. Like I said, it's certainly original.

I knew i wanted to have it the moment it ended. I watched this movie almost a year ago and was patiently waiting for it to come out on DVD.

An excellent movie that through great acting, photography and story it allows one to feel the streets, the fear, the adrenaline, the suspense and an unexpected love of life for someone that lives in epicenter of the mafia world.

It certainly does not fit the classic Hollywood movie mold and happy / hopeful ending. If this is what you're looking for you better skip this movie. This is a more thoughtful and intuitive movie that requires you to have the same insight as when you're watching an old allegoric painting. In this sense, i feel appreciation for this movie demands quite a lot from the spectator, but richly rewards him. This is the kind of movie i love.

Acting from Bakri and Serraiocco is excellent. I enjoyed very much the way Grassadonia and Piazza tell this story.

Italian cinema has produced some excellent movies recently and i think they present a superb alternative to the mainstream Hollywood products. Directors like Sorrentino and Giordana, together with actors like Favino, Servillo, Stuart and Placido amongst others have created top quality movies.