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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 12/04/2008 : 04:52:08
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quote:
Originally posted by dem9nic
"Gomorra", a film that borrows thematic and visual style from "City of God" and comes off no worse from the comparison. Concerning the Camorra organised crime syndicate of Southern Italy there are several story strands that loosely intersect but the film is predominantly set in a real life housing estate in Naples, stunningly shot and resembling a vile sprawling car park from a biblical hell, that breeds crime and gang culture and the simmering tensions of an oncoming gang war. It's violent and brutal, starting as it means to go on with a bloody series of executions in a tanning salon shot entirely in the otherworldly blue of the uv lights. There are many great scenes like it that had me on the edge of my seat as well as great performances throughout from a cast largely populated with unpleasant but always real characters, from the mafia money deliveryman desperate to get out of his increasingly dangerous position, to the teenage boys who think quoting Tony Montana and toting automatic guns make them a
match for the big men who run the gangs. For a dose of vital, visceral cinema it's essential viewing.
I dunno - less is more, is what I kept thinking as the film unrolled relentlessly toward the final true-crime stats - which are certainly shocking in and of themselves.
It's not the non-linear narrative that bothered me, nor the violence which is what it's all about. It's not even that no one is distinctive enough to sustain his own narrative - and I say his because the handful of women are pretty negligible in story terms.
I can see that any of the characters is almost interchangeable with any others. Which, I suppose, is partly the point. We see kids, young adults, ambitious 40-somethings, and older men either in control or getting there. We see people involved directly or indirectly in various aspects of daily life, but only as they interlace with the Camorra.
We get the point certainly before the first hour. But the film continues for more than another hour until the pervasiveness of the violence and its inevitability almost numbs you to it. And maybe that IS the real point.
But I believe that misses something essential in drama - or why not make a documentary. There is precious little characterization and even less context. The people exist primarily in a series of tiny moments. We never get to know them, only glimpse them. We have to fill in the gaps, but often we can't because there's not enough to go on.
Director Matteo Garrone does use documentary style shooting throughout, and mostly it is visually assured and effective. Some shots could easily be extrapolated to still photographs or posters.
His multi-authored screenplay follows the book by lauded Naples journalist Roberto Saviano. I haven't read it, but from the film I'm willing to guess that Saviano hasn't yet mastered the difference between reportage and drama.
Don't get me wrong - I think the concept of the film - that aspect of making the audience work hard to colour in the general shape of things - I think that's intriguing. And, as effective as some of the scenes are, I just don't think it needed to take over two hours.
I recall at the height of IRA and UVF violence in Ireland the Beeb ran a drama which consisted solely of assassinations. As with Gommora they were relentless. It caused great controversy at the time, but, as with Gommora, it made the point. I think it lasted about 50 minutes.
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Recent foreign language release recommendations.
