Gomorrah (2016)

There's no romance of evil here, only soul-killing despair, yet you find yourself deeply invested in Ciro's survival and wishing for a glimmer of hope in a world devoid of it. [19/26 Aug 2016 p.100]

From one episode to the next, it’s always a bit of a surprise which character will become the story’s central figure, the writers seemingly able to make any of its dramatic players utterly gripping.

Gomorrah is dark--both in tone and how it was shot--and it requires concentration on the subtitles, but it's also completely riveting and worth the effort as Italy steps up, via Sundance TV, to prove we don't have a lock on quality dramas.

If Gomorrah has a flaw, it’s that the contours of the story feel distinctly familiar, even if the criminals, housing projects, and slick lawyers have unfamiliar names. ... Even so, the rich texture of the color-saturated world created by writer Stefano Bises and directors Stefano Sollima, Francesca Comencini, and Claudio Cupellini is easy to admire. We’ve been here before, but these tour guides have fresh intelligence.

It doesn’t have the emotional or stylistic highs of those predecessors [“The Sopranos” and “The Godfather”], but it carries you along like one of the sleek Italian motorcycles preferred by its wealthier characters.

In many respects, the twisted moral compass at play in Saviano’s story embodies a modern take on a society that is overrun by corruption and darkness. Gomorrah‘s vision of such a world is both compelling and horrifying, and audiences will likely be unable to look away.

Atmospheric, showing a side of Italy no travelogue would touch, Gomorrah is also fast-paced, covering so much ground in two episodes provided for preview that most series would already be over.

On Italian television, a second, equally popular season of Gomorrah has aired. Clearly there is meat on these bones that people enjoy picking at. Your appetite for it, however, may vary.

The TV version of Gomorrah feels like an antihero-driven American crime drama that would have been unveiled with great fanfare ten or more years ago.

Not a new story, but in Gomorrah, familiarity breeds relief rather than contempt.

The early chapters are loaded with action, intrigue, enhanced by an authenticity as pungent as vintage vino. [22 Aug - 4 Sep 2016, p.17]

A drama that accentuates mob violence but lacks the “charm,” humor and overall empathy generated by The Sopranos.

An extremely straightforward mob saga, filled with moves, countermoves, and frequent bursts of violence.