made with
sorry for the mistakes!
Lo Spietato
The tribute is sincere, there is no doubt and it is also well studied.
But despite this passionate love for "Milano Calibro 9", "Lo Spietato",
leaves us more doubts than anything else. Must be said that Riccardo
Scamarcio “Lo Spietato”, does a good job, the
reconstruction of the time sets is good despite some imperceptible
errors, but it's all too blatantly precise and clean, and above all,
there are comic moments that don't make much sense in a noir movie.
The direction of Renato De Maria has no strokes of genius; he performs
the task in a linear way without exalting the viewer, sometimes he look
without success for some references to noir and poliziottesco cinema.
Long chase scene between cars and blood spatter included.
"Lo spietato" tells of the Calabrian crime in Milan, among of three
decades, seventy, eighty and ninety, through the life of Santo Russo,
Milanese boss who came as a kid from Calabria and played by Scamarcio.
We start from the ending and then see the escalation to the power of
Santo Russo, from the first prison, to the most important robberies.
Not affiliated with any 'ndrina, because of the betrayal of his father,
Russo moves freely on several fronts that include robbery, kidnappings
and unavoidable (and often contoured) homicides. At his side two
loyalists, "Slim" (Alessio Praticò) and Mario (Alessandro
Tedeschi), who often play the inappropriate role of comic reliefs. As
in all films noir/polizieschi /crime cannot miss the feminine aspect,
which here plays a vital role for the events. Russo's wife, Calabrian
like him, (the good and rewarded Sara Serraiocco) becomes in the course
of history God-fearing and tries to save her husband (and perhaps not
only), while her lover, the French and cultured Annabelle interpreted
by Marie-Ange Casta, sister of Laetitia, represents the dream of a
different life that the protagonist can never have.
A final that emphasizes the soft line of "Lo Spietato" compared to the
noir of the past, completes the picture of a film that does not go
beyond the revival of vintage. Di Leo is really far away, ça va
sans dire.
