Gomorrah/Gomorra (2008) - Garrone's stark exposé of Italian mob culture is a knockout

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+ 2nd Best Movie of the Decade

+ 2nd Best Movie of the Year

+ Best Big Hit Movie of the Year + Most Deserved Hit of the Year + Best Epic of the Year + Best Gangster Movie of the Year + Best Italian Movie of the Year + Shooting Star Actor of the Year: Toni Servillo

 

The strange image of a lanky adolescent in only underwear and shoes, carrying a gun, against a firetruck red background makes up this curiosity-sparking poster for Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah

Naples, Italy - We follow 5 stories: Two young renegades, who ventures into a life as solo-criminals. A young boy who dreams of joining the Camorra, the Italian mob syndicate. A dressmaker, who accepts a proposal from a new side. One of the bosses who arranges a renovation. And a member of the syndicate's payment corps, who wants out.

 

Gomorrah is written by Maurizio Braucci (Tatanka (2011)), Ugo Chiti (No Problem (2008)), Gianni Di Gregorio (Carefree Giovanni/Giovanni Senzapensieri (1986)), Massimo Gaudioso (The Reel/Il Caricatore (1996)) and Italian master filmmaker, co-writer/director Matteo Garrone (Land in Between/Terra di Mezzo (1996)), whose 6th feature it is. Also contributing to the script was Roberto Saviano (Zero Zero Zero (2013)), whose same-titled 2006 non-fiction book is the basis of the film.

This is a serious and demanding work of cinema, which makes a lasting impression with its anxiety-filled, deeply authentically resounding character studies, which each of them help to put a clear spotlight on the Italian tragedy that it its mob problem. Toni Servillo (We Believed/Noi Credevamo (2010)) is chilling as the renovation boss, and he fronts an enormously well-playing team of actors and amateur actors. The young Salvatore Abbruzzese as Totò the boy also deserves major credit.

The camera work (cinematography by Marco Onorato (The Voyage Home/De Reditu (Il Ritorno) (2004))) gives us the Southern Italian reality in a matter-of-fact manner; and music seems to be withheld from us except for moments in which the characters play mostly trash music themselves. Gomorrah is like a stone in one's shoe; highly bothersome, as it should rightly be. It is a deeply unsettling masterpiece.

 

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2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

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Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 5.9 mil. €, approximately 7.07 mil. $

Box office: 34.8 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.92 times its cost)

[Gomorrah premiered 16 May (Italy) and runs 137 minutes. Saviano has lived under police protection since 2006. Shooting took place in Italy. The film loosely portrays events with strong similarities to real-life events involving the Casalesi clan of the Camorra and the Scampia feud. At least 4 cast members have since gotten criminal sentences for extortion, murder, drug dealing and drug trafficking. The film opened #64 to a 5k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #28 and in 50 theaters (different weeks), grossing 1.5 mil. $ (4.3 % of the total gross). The film's 3 biggest markets were Italy with 17.6 mil. $ (50.6 %), France with 4.3 mil. $ (12.4 %) and Spain with 3.2 mil. $ (9.2 %). In Italy, the film premiered #1 and spent 6 weekends in the top 5. The film's English Wikipedia page at present has a faulty account of the film's gross. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. It was Italy's Oscar choice of the year but went without a nomination. It was nominated, instead, for a Golden Globe, a BAFTA; it won an award in Cannes, where it competed in the main section; it was nominated for a César award and won 7/11 David di Donatello award nominations, won 5 European Film awards, was nominated for an Independent Spirit award, among many other honors. Saviano later created a TV-series with the same title based on his book, Gomorrah (2014-21). Garrone returned with Reality (2012). Servillo returned in Il Divo (2008). Gomorrah is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) - Production prevails in flawed Vermeer biopic

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Sensual, carnal lust issues from this steamy poster for Peter Webber's Girl with a Pearl Earring

Johannes Vermeer is a prominent artist in the Netherlands in 1655, but he works too slowly, and now his new housemaid catches his wandering eye.

 

Girl with a Pearl Earring is written by Olivia Hetreed (Birds Like Us (2017)), adapting the same-titled 1999 novel by Tracy Chevalier (New Boy (2017)), and directed by Peter Webber (Emperor (2012)), whose theatrical debut it is.

It is a decently made but not very inspired nor deep period film. It is a painter biopic that lets one become fascinated with things such as how colors are created for the paint that goes into the paintings, but we don't get very near to the artist himself.

The many Brits in the cast are fundamentally unfit to capture the Dutch environment, it seems. The story doesn't swell up to greatness here, and Cillian Murphy (Anthropoid (2016)) is miscast: He and his romantic interest, the picturesque Scarlett Johansson (Lucy (2014)) regrettably do not suit each other.

 

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Peter Webber: 2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Hannibal Rising (2007) - Harris returns famed cannibal in sub-par origins flick

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 10 mil. £, approximately 16.3 mil. $

Box office: 33 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.02 times its cost)

[Girl with a Pearl Earring premiered 31 August (Telluride Film Festival, US) and runs 100 minutes. The rights were bought, before the novel was published in 1999. Production was set to start with Mike Newell directing and Kate Hudson and Ralph Fiennes starring in 2001, when Hudson withdrew. Shooting took place in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The film opened #32 to an 89k $ first weekend in 7 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #17 and in 402 theaters (different weeks), grossing 11.6 mil. $ (35.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 5.9 mil. $ (17.9 %) and Germany with 3.3 mil. $ (10 %). It was the 14th highest-grossing (part-) UK film in the UK of the year. It was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Cinematography (Eduardo Serra) to Russell Boyd for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Costume Design and Art/Set Decoration to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, 10 BAFTAs, 3 British Independent Film awards, a David di Donatello award, won 1/3 European Film award nominations, was nominated for a Goya award, won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Webber returned with Six Feet Under (2004, TV-series)) and theatrically with Hannibal Rising (2007). Colin Firth (Fourplay (2001)) returned in Love Actually (2003); Johansson in The Perfect Score (2004); and Tom Wilkinson (Belle (2013)) in If Only (2004). Girl with a Pearl Earring is fresh at 72 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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