The past doesn't exist

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's top 50 films of 2023

#30 :  Nostalgia

Tremendously shot and terrifically acted, this Neapolitan gangster drama from Mario Martone shatters the rose-tinted spectacles.

After an unprecedented SIX English language films in a row, we have our first Italian language film on the list - who's going to argue with a "tremendously shot and terrifically acted" gangster drama?

The film follows Felice (Pierfrancesco Favino) who has come back to Naples from Cairo after many years, possibly to look after his mother, Teresa (Aurora Quattrocchi) - but as the film progresses you begin to suspect that there may be alternative motives at play. He's obviously looking to understand more about his childhood relationship with Oreste (Tommaso Ragno) who was a bad 'un and he comes in contact with Don Luigi (Francesco Di Leva) a priest who explains what Oreste is up to now (spoiler alert - he's even more of a bad 'un). And that's all you need to know.

It's well shot and you get a sense of the oppressiveness of the neighbourhood - the settings are unsurprisingly all very reminiscent of Gomorrah (an excellent series if you've not seen it). It's very well lit - a lot of the interior locations are dark and there's been a lot of thought gone into making people visible but not too visible. There are also interesting use of flashbacks, which are well shot in a retro style.

Pierfrancesco Favino carries a lot of the film - he's in most of the scenes and he interacts well with others, although mostly in a "I don't really understand how things are any more" kinda way. Francesco Di Leva is also good as his guide, although for me the part wasn't quite as well written as it might have been. Aurora Quattrocchi is also worth a mention - she puts in a good shift for an 81 year old and must be all there to act as though she totally isn't all there!

However, you may notice that both The Guardian and I have praised the acting and shooting, but we haven't mentioned the writing - it spends a LOT of time setting up the first final confrontation without really offering up particular justification for why either side were looking for it or what they get out of it. We then have a twenty minute break where a load of random stuff happens for no obvious reason (including meeting Felice's wife, who doesn't seem at all concerned that her husband has been gone for months) and then we have the final final confrontation which I was also very unclear about as to why it happened. And finally, I've no idea why they named the film as they did because it's not at all nostalgic - which just annoyed me!

Maybe I'm being picky or maybe I missed the point - there's definitely a lot to like about this film and it's generally gorgeous to look at. But it feels like it could have been made considerably better with remarkably little effort, so it's just a bit of a shame that they didn't do that. If you fancy it, then it's available to stream on Curzon (you've got that, right?) or to rent in all the usual places, but it's not quite a whole-hearted recommendation from me.

#31 - Much better than I was expecting