It's ugly. It's powerful. But it's hard to look away.
Gomorrah (2009)
Tomatometer
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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...
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 of even the most innocent citizens. In a manner similar to The Wire, Garrone tells his story from many different angles, resulting in a complicated narrative that often feels novelistic. In many cases, the revolving stories never overlap or intersect. While that may be jarring to those viewers who are used to having their strings tied neatly for them by a film's conclusion, Garrone's decision results in an experience that feels much more honest and true. We witness the syndicate's impact from the top down and from the inside out, following a cavalcade of characters who are all trying in their own ways to escape the deadly world in which they live.
Based on the book by Roberto Saviano, Garrone's crime epic is a powerful indictment of the corruption that is running rampant in Italy. His decision to present such a wide spectrum of characters enables him to show just how deeply everyone is impacted by this terrifying, unchecked display of criminal power. Cinematically, he employs a dizzying array of styles in order to further establish the frighteningly ungoverned atmosphere that pervades this community. Gomorrah succeeds as both visceral entertainment and thoughtful social commentary.--© IFC Films
Starring: Salvatore Abruzzese, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Toni Servillo
Starring: Salvatore Abruzzese, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Toni Servillo, Carmine Paternoster, Salvatore Cantalupo, Marco Macor, Ciro Petrone, Italo Celoro
Director: Matteo Garrone
Director: Matteo Garrone
Screenwriter: Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni Di Gregorio, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso, Roberto Saviano
Producer: Domenico Procacci
Studio: IFC Films
Reviews for Gomorrah
Gomorrah, a portrait of mob-ruled Naples, is a violent, long, hopeless, dispiriting movie, and also possibly a work of genius.
If The Godfather is the operatic pinnacle of gangster movies, let Gomorrah be its biblical counterpart.
Directed by Matteo Garrone, Gomorrah is both a staggering realist thriller and a jeremiad.
So many moments in the fine Italian crime drama Gomorrah recall scenarios from a hundred different American-made mob movies....But Gomorrah...has its own nerve, as well as the filmmaking intelligence to strip the cliches from its densely pac
The film is a curative for the romanticism of The Godfather and Scarface.
The movie presents the Camorra as a meat grinder through which all things within its orbit must pass.
A war photographer's journal, taken at ground zero of the essential, inescapable tragedy of being human.
Don't look for resolution, romanticism, or comic relief in this underworld tour, shot with a fast, you-are-there look and no pity; you won't find picaresque goodfellas or Sopranos-style ziti eaters here. Instead, there's the power of damning truth
The result demands a patient viewing, and maybe more than one; only after a second dose did I get the measure of [director] Garrone’s mastery, and realize how far he has surpassed, not merely honored, the author’s courageous toil.
The malignity can be oppressive -- this is a far cry from Fellini finding poignant uplift in the slums -- but the dramatic structure is complex, the details are instructive, and the sense of tragedy is momentous.
Gomorrah takes the time-honored Mafia genre and gives it an all- new twist.
Naples is just a boat ride away from celebstudded Capri, but to judge from Matteo Garrone’s darkly compelling crime drama, it may as well be another world.
Gomorrah is a corrosive and ferociously unsentimental fictional look at Italian organized crime.
Another film that critics will champion and average filmgoers will scratch their heads over, while wondering how they got snookered out of the price of a movie ticket.
As even-toned as a documentary, it plays like the Short Cuts of Sicily; we're not sure who we're watching or why, but by the bloody end we're caught in a web of violent fools
A dull repeat of The Sopranos, only without any character development.
Latest News for Gomorrah
May 24, 2009:
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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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