Romanzo Criminale

Instead we get 30 characters instantly introduced and then many quickly disposed of - obviously an attempt to riff with the style of Goodfellas. But to borrow a saying from Goodfellas ‘I was introduced to that many people I was drunk’ – the ploy here just disorientates and annoys the viewer, as no real character development occurs.

Any that does occur is a fusion of all nasty gangsters to make super-cartoon-like characters with no credibility or reality to them at all.

If people like this did exist, the world would ironically be a better place, because they’d be dead in 10 minutes.

However, the film isn’t a failure as a story, thanks to the great acting, the gritty camera work and a confidence in storytelling by the director.

The dialogue isn’t bad either, its actually rather decent, mixing gangster register we find in so many other movies with a social and political insight.

The film also adds characters who ‘run the show behind closed doors’ and adds a social dimension to an otherwise unnecessary gangster flick – this film does have something to say, I’m just not so sure audiences outside Italy would receive it clearly if at all.

While other recent world cinema crime efforts like City of God (a much superior film, that actually succeeds in learning from its American predecessors) offered us new people and locations (Brazil’s favelas are characters) Romanzo Criminale is set in Rome and makes no use of the location, the culture and its people, they are instead wasted; only slight hints at Roman Catholicism are present.

Perhaps the film is too ambitious, the film’s narrative events occur over 30 years and we follow many characters mainly Ice, Lebanese and Dandy.

Individually the stories seem rather flawed but they all are entertaining and quite memorable as a whole.

The problem is there isn’t a single stand-out scene in the film, when there should be several in a film two-and-a-half hours in length.

Do any characters reach redemption? Not really, at the film’s climax all are either dead or in prison but that’s not the problem because even films like Goodfellas have no redeeming characters in them.

It is when a third of the film is spent with the character Ice that Romanzo Criminale is most flawed, as we are lead to feel for and indeed side with him, we watch him almost reach redemption only to end up with a climax that’s hardly memorable or justifiable.

Before people make such comparisons to Goodfellas, try and note how many characters are likeable in Romanzo Criminale.

Goodfellas manages to side us with the criminals because director Martin Scorsese is talented enough to do this. It is here where the director of Romanzo Criminale, Micheal Placido, fails.

Romanzo Criminale is hardly a standout picture in the gangster genre but it is to Italian cinema, as it proves good films can still be made there, it is also a great film to watch if you haven’t seen many gangster films because every plot point and trope feels fresher and more effective.

Romanzo Criminale isn’t a bad film, it is very good; its well-made and well-acted, I was just left feeling slightly cheated because it felt as I had just watched a compilation of the crime genres best moments.

The result? Not as effective as it should be.

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