Suburra

It’s an audio-visually over-stylized, soft-spoken, yet more than eloquent fresco about the dark side of the eternal city that manages a quantum of characters, unprecedented violence, and metaphorical parables. Some of the threads could still use an extra knot at the end, but it is still an intense and exhausting viewing experience in the best sense. (2017-01-15)

Phenomenal visual stylization, atmospheric soundtrack, or M83 as we like him best, and a precise portrayal of the underworld. All this in a gritty, uncompromising and strongly un-American delivery by the Italians, who know the mafia like few others. An interesting affair that is so pompous and self-aware that you can't take your eyes/ears off it. One of the films of the year, though it lacks an even sharper finale. (2016-06-20)

This is the powerful experience that I was expecting (in vain) from last year’s Black Mass and Legend. The Italians play the mafia game at a completely different level than the Brits and Americans. One minor evil event leads to an apocalypse that engulfs and destroys everyone. The feeling of helplessness, the inability to avoid being caught in the web of crime, grows into furious madness. Suburra is a crime thriller, so it wouldn’t be celebrated in Cannes like Matteo Garrone’s artsier Gomorra, but it’s a damn engaging crime thriller that shows some great work with characters. Excellently played characters. The story is familiar in places, but never falls into clichés. The soundtrack’s use of M83’s greatest hits is rather bizarre, which perhaps makes it all the more effective. This musical choice made me add a fifth star. (2016-03-07)

This is one of those films I find it hard to evaluate. I wouldn’t even dream of criticizing the film for a lack of quality filmmaking. It was definitely there, the problem was that the first hour was mind-numbingly boring and soporific. I also didn’t learn anything new - gypsies and politicians are the same everywhere and prostitution is a dangerous profession. I just had to write this down: "So if you don't go away now, I'll chop your leg off, put it in the fridge and return it when you bring me the money.” All right then. (2020-01-05)

A modern mafia thriller that maps the operation of organized crime vertically across the social structure of contemporary Italy. From political and church leaders and powerful bosses to prostitutes and small-time crooks doing dirty work in the field. The only thing missing here is the counterbalance of the police and state institutions facing the mafia. The story is set in a world so deeply rooted in corruption and dirty deals that the competition within the underworld poses a much greater, if not the only, risk. Well-written and directed, it is a complex experience that is rarely seen. I have only one reservation: big predators are usually rightfully at the top of the food chain, whereas in Suburra, the nobodies triumph – and at least in one case, against the logic of the situation's development and against the nature of their personality. However, Suburra is seriously close to a five-star rating. Overall impression: 85%. (2017-03-13)