Leslie Felperin 

Black Souls review – organised crime and bad blood in Calabria

Men glower menacingly at each other in this stripped-down drama of a Calabrian family caught up in an endless cycle of violence
  
  

Black Souls film still
Endless, pointless blood feuds … Black Souls Photograph: Francesca Casciarri/Publicity image from film company

This stripped-down drama about a Calabrian family involved in organised crime eschews the operatic violence of classic American gangster movies and the arty flash of recent Italian mafia pics such as Gomorra. Instead, it’s a film where characters exchange terse words in grotty bars and back rooms, or just glower meaningfully at each other, before walking into fatal traps at night down dark alleys and inky corridors. All of which to underscore the grubby, flat pointlessness of the endless blood feuds which, in this instance, entangle three brothers, their wives and their children in yet another wash-rinse-repeat cycle of violence.

Black Souls - video review

Marco Leonardi (who was once the teen Toto in Cinema Paradiso) plays the most ruthless sibling through sleepy, smiling eyes, opposite Peppino Mazzotta as the bespectacled straight one and Fabrizio Ferracane as the enigmatic eldest, a man who just wants to raise his only son and herd of goats in peace. The film’s long low hum of quiet pays off with an aptly shocking climax.

 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

*