There’s nothing extraneous about it, nothing excessive in its violence or its art. It’s as desolate as it needs to be and no more.
Comment
03/13/09
Gomorrah (2009)
91
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:118
Fresh:107
Rotten:11
Average Rating:7.6/10
Consensus: Portraying organised crime with an unflinching realism, this gritty and searing Italian crime masterpiece pulls no punches.
Theatrical Release:10-10-2008
Synopsis: Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah is a dense, sprawling exposé of the corruption plaguing the communities of Naples and Caserta in modern-day Italy. The all-powerful Camorra syndicate influences the lives... [More]
Starring: Salvatore Abruzzese, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Toni Servillo
Director: Matteo Garrone
Reviews for Gomorrah
An unforgettable portrayal of the unglamorous gangster life, which is often short and never sweet.
03/13/09
The film's multiple strands might reflect a trend in multiple story lines. And it works to persuasively argue just how pervasive the corruption is in this community.
03/13/09
Buried in the muck of despair
03/13/09
Gomorrah is stark and powerful filmmaking, a welcome alternative to romanticized American mob melodramas.
03/12/09
A carnivorous candor permeates every frame with blood-curdling fascination and dread.
03/10/09
You can’t escape the Comorra -- and with patience, at the end of the film, that point will be depressingly and effectively clear. I think you should see it.
03/09/09
This is gritty, it's raw, it's incredibly realistic and it's terrifying and stylized.
03/09/09
As much as the victims and aggressors in Naples mafia movie Gomorrah seek to repress consequences of gangsterism, they are, of course embodying them.
03/08/09
A chilling, fresh addition to the mob movie genre.
03/07/09
Stark, raw and brutal, this isn't Hollywood's romantic version of the Mafia.
03/06/09
It upends everything you think you know about the mob and mob movies.
03/06/09
[Director] Garrone's messy storytelling compounds an already messy history. He's a powerful filmmaker, though, and a fearless one. He knows where the bodies are buried -- and he shows them to us.
03/02/09
Reading about a film should never be more exciting than watching it.
03/02/09
What the director has created is a ferocious portrait of total corruption.
02/27/09
Director Matteo Garrone has adapted Saviano's kaleidoscopic technique, loosely adapting the book for the screen, creating an episodic, sprawling and, finally, overwhelming portrait of ordinary lives engulfed by violence, hopelessness and evil.
02/27/09
Hell seems terribly familiar in Gomorrah, an Italian gangster film with a near-documentary feel.
02/27/09
A powerful look at the world of organized crime that is both completely deglamorized and utterly engrossing from start to finish.
02/27/09
Such an ambitious and fascinating effort thematically that it's impossible to ignore.
02/27/09
The sprawl makes it hard to follow... but it makes its point about the reach of the Camorra and the culture it has spawned.
02/26/09
Latest News for Gomorrah
May 24, 2009:
Cannes 2009: The Tomato Report - Critics Pick Their Awards Favourites
With the Cannes Film Festival winding down this weekend, talk is now turning to who will win the Palme d'Or this evening. We tracked down several journalists covering the fest... More...
February 12, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Friday the 13th Feels Too Familiar
This week at the movies, we've got creepy campers (Friday the 13th, starring Jared Padalecki and Danielle Panabaker), conspicuous consumption (Confessions of a Shopaholic,... More...
January 26, 2009:
Exclusive: Gomorrah red-band clip and poster!
The Mafia stages a routine presence in cinema, but few of their movies are drawing the strong praise like Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah is. Italy's official entry for the 2008... More...
January 08, 2009:
Broadcast Film Critics Name Critics' Choice Winners
The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards were given on January 8, 2009, to honor the finest achievements in 2008 filmmaking. A list of nominees follows below, with winners in bold: More...
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