''Suburra'' is a 2015 Italian
neo-noir
Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...
crime film
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
directed by
Stefano Sollima
Stefano Sollima (born 4 May 1966) is an Italian director and screenwriter.
He is best known for his gritty crime-drama films such as ''ACAB – All Cops Are Bastards'' (2012), ''Suburra'' (2015), and '' Sicario: Day of the Soldado'' (2018), as w ...
, based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Carlo Bonini and Giancarlo De Cataldo. The movie was financed by
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
and
RAI
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
. It stars
Pierfrancesco Favino
Pierfrancesco Favino (; August 24, 1969) is an Italian actor, voice actor and producer. He has appeared in more than fifty European and American movies and television series since the early 1990s, including '' The Prince of Homburg'' (1997), '' T ...
,
Elio Germano
Elio Germano (born 25 September 1980) is an Italian actor. He is the recipient of many accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and a Silver Bear for Best Actor.
Life and career
Born in Rome to a Molisan family from Duro ...
and
Claudio Amendola
Claudio Amendola (born 16 February 1963) is an Italian actor, director and television presenter. He starred in the 1993 film '' The Escort'', which was entered into the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.
Biography
Born in Rome and the son of actors and ...
, and focuses on the connections between
organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
and politics in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
in 2011, inspired by true events from the
Mafia Capitale
The Mafia Capitale is the name given to an organized crime organization and subsequent investigation involving the government of the city of Rome, in which members stole money destined for city services and carried out other criminal activities su ...
. ''
Suburra
The Suburra, or ''Subura'' (unknown etymology), was a vast and populous neighborhood of Ancient Rome, located below the ''Murus Terreus'' on the ''Carinae'' and stretching on the slopes of the Quirinal and Viminal hills up to the offshoots of th ...
'' was the name of a suburb of
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
.
In 2017,
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
released an adaptation of the movie in the form of a
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
, ''
Suburra: Blood on Rome''.
Plot
In November 2011, Filippo Malgradi is an Italian MP involved in a bill to change the classification of certain administrative areas; his objective is to allow a real estate project in
Ostia so that it could be turned into a
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
-like city. He has close relations with a local crime boss—known as "Samurai", a former
militant neo-fascist terrorist turned professional criminal under the cover of an unsuspecting pump station owner—who also has deep interests in the real estate project. Samurai has privileged ties to the
Vatican Bank
The Institute for the Works of Religion ( it, Istituto per le Opere di Religione; la, Institutum pro Operibus Religionis; abbreviated IOR), commonly known as the Vatican Bank, is a financial institution situated inside Vatican City and run by a ...
, who will finance the project for profit.
At a hotel room, Filippo fraternizes with two prostitutes, Sabrina and Jelena; Jelena, who is underage, dies of intoxication. When Filippo runs away as he attempts to dispose of the body with the other prostitute, she calls Alberto "''Spadino''" Anacleti to help dispose of the body by dumping it into a reservoir.
''Spadino'' is from a gypsy family who made a fortune by violent means as money lenders and debt collectors. They lent money to Sebastiano's father, a pimp who organises secret parties in his family villa for important members of the Italian high society. Sebastiano's father commits suicide after being unable to pay his debts, and Manfredi Anacleti, the patriarch of the Anacleti family, summons Sebastiano to convince him to relinquish all his property to pay for his father's debts.
''Spadino'' decides to blackmail Filippo into purchasing drugs and prostitutes from him and his family. Filippo asks Aureliano "''Numero'' 8" Adami to intimidate ''Spadino'', but the confrontation becomes more violent than expected, and Aureliano kills ''Spadino'' leaving Manfredi Anacleti infuriated and thirsty for revenge.
Aureliano is a local thug who controls the target of the real estate project permitted by the bill in discussion. His father was also a criminal and a close friend of Samurai. He has agreed with Samurai a division in profits as long as he convinces local small business owners to sell their properties at a bargain to Samurai. Aureliano is in love with a drug-addict named Viola.
Sabrina, fearing for her life, asks Sebastiano for help, and he lets her stay at his house. She reveals the name of ''Spadinos killer to him, and he then decides to tell Manfredi in exchange for clemency and his family's villa. Anacleti's henchman unsuccessfully attempt to kill Aureliano. Fearful that an all-out war between Aureliano and Manfredi could threaten his real estate interests, Samurai decides to intervene between the two to bring peace. In the meantime Manfredi learns about the real estate project and also wants his share in the business.
Manfredi blackmails Sebastiano to hand him over the prostitute Sabrina; in turn, Sabrina tells Manfredi Anacleti the name of the politician who is behind the project, which she reveals to be Filippo. Manfredi bursts into Filippo's apartment and takes his son as a hostage, demanding a participation in the business. Filippo, enraged, asks Samurai for protection. Samurai, who does not want to lose the transaction, attempts to reason with Aureliano, but the latter tells Samurai that "he is old and outdated". Samurai, offended by Aureliano's words and also fearful that the Vatican would back down on financing the project, decides to kill him and his henchmen. During the shooting, Viola hides and manages to escape. He decides to share the profits only with Manfredi.
Manfredi goes back on his promise to return the family villa to Sebastiano, and severely beats Sebastiano. The bill is also approved, but the body of Jelena is found on the shore and Filippo is warned that the judiciary may investigate him. Meanwhile, Sebastiano, enraged, assaults Manfredi when he arrives home at night, beats him, and locks him in the cage of Manfredi's own ferocious pit bull, who mauls him to death. After the approval of the bill, the Prime Minister resigns from office, which jeopardizes Filippo's parliamentary immunity, potentially leaving him at the mercy of the Judiciary system. Finally, Samurai is killed by Viola while leaving his mother's apartment.
Cast
*
Pierfrancesco Favino
Pierfrancesco Favino (; August 24, 1969) is an Italian actor, voice actor and producer. He has appeared in more than fifty European and American movies and television series since the early 1990s, including '' The Prince of Homburg'' (1997), '' T ...
as Filippo Malgradi
*
Elio Germano
Elio Germano (born 25 September 1980) is an Italian actor. He is the recipient of many accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and a Silver Bear for Best Actor.
Life and career
Born in Rome to a Molisan family from Duro ...
as Sebastiano
*
Claudio Amendola
Claudio Amendola (born 16 February 1963) is an Italian actor, director and television presenter. He starred in the 1993 film '' The Escort'', which was entered into the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.
Biography
Born in Rome and the son of actors and ...
as "Samurai"
*
Alessandro Borghi as Aureliano "''Numero 8''" Adami
*
Greta Scarano
Greta Scarano (born 27 August 1986) is an Italian television, stage and film actress.
Life and career
Born in Rome, Scarano made her professional debut in the TV-series '' R.I.S. - Delitti imperfetti''. Between 2008 and 2009, she played Sabrina ...
as Viola
*
Giulia Elettra Gorietti
Giulia Elettra Gorietti (born 29 September 1988) is an Italian actress from Rome.
Life and career
Gorietti was born in Rome from an Italian father and a German-Portuguese mother: at the age of 12 she joined the Italian Rhythmic gymnastics te ...
as Sabrina
* Adamo Dionisi as Manfredi Anacleti
*
Giacomo Ferrara
Giacomo Ferrara (born 24 November 1990) is an Italian actor best known for his role as Alberto "Spadino" Anacleti in the 2015 neo-noir crime film ''Suburra'' and its subsequent spin-off series, '' Suburra: Blood on Rome'', and '' Suburræterna''. ...
as Alberto "''Spadino''" Anacleti
*
Antonello Fassari as Sebastiano's father
*
Jean-Hugues Anglade
Jean-Hugues Anglade (born 29 July 1955) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter, known for his roles as Eric in ''Killing Zoe'', Zorg in ''Betty Blue'' and Marco, the boyfriend of Nikita in '' Nikita''.
Personal life
Anglade was born ...
as Cardinal Berchet
* Nazzareno Bomba as "Bacarozzo"
* Marco Zangardi as Rognati
* Yulia Kolomiets as Jelena
Critical response
Box office
The film made €1,742,182 in its opening weekend in Italy, totaling €4.7 million in Italy, for a grand total of $5.1 million including the international box office.
Reception
''Suburra'' was well received by critics. It currently holds a 92% approval rating on review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 22 reviews with an average rating of 7.3/10. Lee Marshall of ''
Screen International
''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company.
The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...
'' and Jacob Stolworthy of ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' praised the film for its casting, filming and soundtrack. Hanh Nguyen of ''
IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
'' stated, "While it delivered shocks and spectacle, its characterizations felt shallow and stereotypical — probably because it tried to pack too much into its 130-minute runtime."
See also
*
List of Italian films of 2015
This is a list of Italian films first released in 2015 (see 2015 in film).
See also
*2015 in Italy
*2015 in Italian television
External linksItalian films of 2015at the Internet Movie Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Italian Films Of 2015
2015
Fil ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Stefano Sollima
2015 crime films
Films directed by Stefano Sollima
Films set in 2011
Films set in Rome
French crime films
Italian crime films
Italian neo-noir films
Films about organized crime in Italy
French neo-noir films
Films based on non-fiction books about organized crime
Crime films based on actual events
2010s French films
2010s Italian-language films