Adagio

Rome is on fire! There is a fire somewhere near the Italian capital. Unbearable heat hangs over the Eternal City as Vasco (Adriano GIANNINI) prepares pasta for his two sons. But his eyes keep wandering to the tablet, which shows pictures of a strange party. There, 16-year-old Manuel (Gianmarco FRANCHINI), who has just been looking after his father (Toni SERVILLO) who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, is on some strange mission. Due to the forest fire nearby, there are frequent short power outages. The events at the party become increasingly obscene. It soon becomes clear that Manuel is not there voluntarily. He just wants out. But in the relentless city of Rome, in some circles you can't survive without the right people. In Manuel's case, these are his father's old friends (Valerio MASTANDREA as Pol Niuman and Pierfrancesco FAVINO as Cammello). With these veterans of Roman crime, Manuel can take on his blackmailers...

Director Stefano SOLLIMA only gradually allows his audience to decipher the complex background of his story. In beautiful images of the city of Rome, which shimmer with heat even at night, we experience a modern crime story with the ever-new ingredients of corruption, blackmail, murder and lost honor. Masterfully staged!

Two mega stars of Italian cinema deliver an absolute brilliant performance. Pierfrancesco FAVINO (EUROPEAN FILM AWARD Nominee 2019 for IL TRADITORE and 2022 for NOSTALGIA) and Toni SERVILLO (EUROPEAN FILM AWARD Winner 2008 for IL DIVO and 2013 for LA GRANDE BELLEZZA) could be aging revenants from the heyday of Italian gangster films of the 1970s and the 1980s. There is even a clever quote from the Hollywood classic THE USUAL SUSPECTS (1995), about which, however, we shouldn't reveal too much.

As the son of ACADEMY AWARD nominee Giancarlo GIANNINI (nominated for PASQUALINO SETTEBELLEZZE in 1977), Adriano GIANNINI is certainly very familiar with CINECITTA's genre masterpieces. With films that Stefano SOLLIMA's father Sergio SOLLIMA could have directed. Adriano GIANNINI was also able to tame mega star MADONNA in SWEPT AWAY (2002) 20 years ago. Here he plays a devoted father who goes too far with his excessive duty of care and also drags two colleagues (Francesco Di LEVA and Lorenzo ADORNI) into the hellhole of crime.

In 2015, director Stefano SOLLIMA impressed heavily with the Italian gangster film SUBURRA. After that he was ready for Hollywood: SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO (2018) and WITHOUT REMORSE (2021). After earning money, he was now able to deliver a genre masterpiece again in Italy. The patience has paid off. In 2023, SOLLIMA was represented in competition at the Venice Film Festival with his remarkable genre film. In my opinion, an accolade that also honors all the films of the POLIZIOTTESCHI genre of the 1970s and 1980s!

In the box office, the film only managed to make $1,225,737 (source: IMDb). May he have more viewers in the programming of the streaming giant NETFLIX!!!