Gomorrah - DVD Review
By Irv Slifkin -- Video Business, 11/9/2009
CRITERION/IMAGE |
Street: Nov. 24
Prebook: now
> Knockout Italian crime saga scores in all departments.
The power and the gory of the frightening Camorra—a crime syndicate with its hands in seemingly every facet of life in and around Naples—is at the center of this sprawling Italian gangster drama, which is based on Roberto Saviano’s best-selling exposé. The fractured but intense documentary-styled film surveys the role crime plays in the lives of a diverse group of people, including youngsters (Marco Macor, Ciro Petrone) who emulate Al Pacino’s Scarface, an out-of-work man (Carmine Paternoster) who gets involved in toxic waste dumping, and a tailor (Salvatore Cantalupo) who learns how the Mob does business in the fashion industry.
Shelf Talk: Fans of this major import (which picked up awards at Cannes and its native Italy) have been awaiting its release with great anticipation and will be thrilled with the deluxe treatment it’s being afforded by Criterion. This riveting effort might find a bigger audience beyond the arthouse crowd.
Foreign-language drama, color, NR (mature themes, language, violence), 137 min., DVD $39.95, UPC: 715515051712; BD $39.95, UPC: 715515051811, Italian with English subtitlesExtras: interviews, documentary, deleted scenes, booklet
Director: Matteo Garrone
First Run: L, Dec. 2008, $1.8 mil.
