Fun, stylishly produced and directed. A refreshingly different slant on a Mafioso story.
With the watch if you appreciate a good black comedy.
Plot summary
A rebellious teenager grows up to become one of Milan's most ambitious criminals during the golden years of the 'ndrangheta' Mafia in the 1980s.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
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Black comedy Goodfellas, Italian style
Distractingly Derivative
I suppose that it is possible that every story of organized crime corruption follows a similar trajectory to that of the life of Henry Hill (for the most part, based on his memoir),but because Lo spietato hews so closely to Goodfellas, I found it very difficult to focus on whatever may have been the virtues of this particular film. Every major plot line is essentially replicated in this Italian translation of Goodfellas. Perhaps the producers and director thought that Italians had not seen the American inspiration for their work? From start to finish, this is the story of Henry Hill. With one notable exception: the Italian protagonist does not pretend never to have whacked anyone, as Henry Hill did (not that anyone believed him...).
Making of
How to rise in the Mafia ... still being moral and all about it. As with many tales this begins later and goes back to show us how our main character became the person he ... became eventually. There is violence, there is nudity, there is obviously also crime.
Very well played and confident in it's structure and timeline this is an entertaining enough watch, even though you could not compare it to the greats in the genre. But that doesn't mean you should knock it down.