GringoTex wrote:I rented this, as it's a "Blockbuster Exclusive" (certainly making this the most redundant Criterion release ever?) and was sorely disappointed. How many more gangster films do we have to see pay homage to De Palma's Scarface by repeating lines from it? Highly derivative and clumsily filmed. Which I guess makes it this year's La Haine.
I think you missed the point. Those kids romanticize the idea of the renegade gangster like Tony Montana, and see where it gets them. It's not a much of a homage as a figure the kids look up to.
Also, I'm not sure about Gomorrah, but the other Blockbuster editions I've seen have zero special features. Doesn't make it so redundant.
GringoTex wrote:I rented this, as it's a "Blockbuster Exclusive" (certainly making this the most redundant Criterion release ever?) and was sorely disappointed. How many more gangster films do we have to see pay homage to De Palma's Scarface by repeating lines from it? Highly derivative and clumsily filmed. Which I guess makes it this year's La Haine.
I think you missed the point. Those kids romanticize the idea of the renegade gangster like Tony Montana, and see where it gets them. It's not a much of a homage as a figure the kids look up to.
Also, I'm not sure about Gomorrah, but the other Blockbuster editions I've seen have zero special features. Doesn't make it so redundant.
I think the film was competent in that it wasn't glorifying the lifestyle of Italian organized crime. Where it fell apart for me was that it poorly tied it all together and then ends with a text stating that the camorra have invested in such large and sweeping ventures as the reconstruction of the WTC.
While its all true I felt like I was watching a bunch of low level goons living in cheap apartment complexes killing each other. It got compared to the Wire by a lot of critics and where it differs is that it felt like a bunch of random stories that were slightly or not at all related whereas the Wire really felt like Baltimore was one living breathing organism.
I do agree that the release isn' redundant. Its not available on Blu Ray in the U.S. so for the HD crowd its the first time its available domestically.
As the Camorra hitman dispatches his victim with clinical efficiency, a bystander casually checks her lottery scratch card and walks away. Others peer at the body and continue about their business as if the shooting was a normal part of daily life.
The CCTV footage - and the aftermath of the crime - give a troubling insight into the extent of the Naples mafia's control of their territory. Although the hit took place on 11 May this year, and the face of the killer is clearly visible on the recording, with witnesses present, investigators have so far met with silence.
Journalist Roberto Saviano, who has a permanent armed escort since exposing the activities of the Naples mafia in his best selling book Gomorrah, called the killing a "classic Camorra hit, very well planned and executed without fanfare". He added that the video "shows what little value these people have for human life," in a recorded commentary posted on la Repubblica's website. "The thing that strikes you," he said, "is the absolute serenity of the killer."
As the Camorra hitman dispatches his victim with clinical efficiency, a bystander casually checks her lottery scratch card and walks away. Others peer at the body and continue about their business as if the shooting was a normal part of daily life.
The CCTV footage - and the aftermath of the crime - give a troubling insight into the extent of the Naples mafia's control of their territory. Although the hit took place on 11 May this year, and the face of the killer is clearly visible on the recording, with witnesses present, investigators have so far met with silence.
Journalist Roberto Saviano, who has a permanent armed escort since exposing the activities of the Naples mafia in his best selling book Gomorrah, called the killing a "classic Camorra hit, very well planned and executed without fanfare". He added that the video "shows what little value these people have for human life," in a recorded commentary posted on la Repubblica's website. "The thing that strikes you," he said, "is the absolute serenity of the killer."
This video is much longer...showing the indifference of people afterwords...pretty creepy stuff...
[quote=""membrillo""]It's sad to say but I would take violence like that any day over the kind of things that are happening here in Tijuana.[/quote] Isn't that an unfair comparison though. You're not going to complain about the bootlegging of America compared to China.
knives wrote:[quote=""membrillo""]It's sad to say but I would take violence like that any day over the kind of things that are happening here in Tijuana.
Isn't that an unfair comparison though. You're not going to complain about the bootlegging of America compared to China. [/quote]
I guess I was referring to the level of the level of “shock” that was caused by this video. I was in France and Spain earlier this month and saw this video on television newscasts in both those countries. Followed by some pretty interesting commentaries.
by the way it's a shame that Ms.Scarlett Johansson doesn't appear in the Criterion bonus. She made a special guest appearance via TV tube during the movie.
GringoTex wrote:How many more gangster films do we have to see pay homage to De Palma's Scarface by repeating lines from it?
While I'm late and it's already been addresses I'm rather surprised someone came away from this feeling that. I think it was pretty obvious these characters romantacized the movies, particularly De Palma's film, and that's probably why they got into the lifestyle they did, hoping for the same excessive one Tony had. Also the supplements (which weren't on the Blockbuster DVD) point out that the story of those two was based on fact and that the two boys were movie buffs and saw themselves as living a movie.
Not only the boys, but isn't it documented that the real mob bosses were actually building their mansions in the style of the film? So rather than just being a cheap filmic gimmick isn't it a case of life imitating art and then itself being imitated by another kind of film? Maybe a better criticism could be that the film's success itself contributes to this rather insular feedback loop?
Exactly, mfunk. This film is an overrated bore. Any given episode of The Wire does everything that Gomorrah pretends to be doing several orders of magnitude better. For all the grousing about Tiny Furniture, here's a contemporary film that's at least equally undeserving of a spine number, but gets off easier because it has a certain amount of pseudo seriousness and rote respect portaged in with its violent subject matter and its claims to cinematic and journalistic realism.
Not a fan of Gommarah but I think it’s worth just a peek into Napoli for its once-lush world now ruined by decades of the Mafia. The only thing that is interesting about the film is the storyline of that couple of boys. Their storyline is very limited - a shame because the other story lines are pretty dull, like something you would get out of a cable program late at night. If I was filming Gomorrah, I would send the boys on a bus to some town along the ethereal Amalfi coast – a ½ hour ride away – to make dealings or visit families – the clash between the tourist-wealthy lemon-filled paradise and the slums of Napoli would make a fascinating film I think. When I was vacationing in Capri, I ran into a bunch of boys just like those Gommarah boys making a ruckus on a bus ride and nearly got into a fight with the driver.
Looking back on this thread, someone made a comment about The Godfather being romanticized. No way! But surely there are moments of golden-hued nostalgia sprinkled through Part I and II – especially the two weddings in Part I and Vito’s immigration in Part II that make a lot of Italian people I know (including myself) choke up. Coppola detailed the culture so authentically down to the olive oil cans. But Coppola’s examination of Michael Corleone is the staggering core of the Godfather films. Coppola did not hesitant to attack Michael, soo cold and cruel that you are left alone with his black heart in the final dissolve of Part II. With the incredible arc of Michael from being a homecoming war hero to an evil killer carried on from his sister’s warm, summery wedding to the chilly, wintry isolation in Lake Tahoe following the murder of his brother he orchestrated.
Young Vito’s family got wiped out– his mom, dad and brother all killed the same day, sending Vito to America for his safety. How is that romanticized at all?
GQ wrote:Salman Rushdie, who was introduced to him at a party in New York City seven years ago and has been in periodic contact with him since, told me that Saviano's situation is "far worse" than his ever was: "It is much harder for him to lead anything that one might call a normal life."
