Simpson A no spoiler review for a film that is based on a true story, has a show and a book. I'm always weary of films that try to tell stories of multiple characters or of ones that span years or decades. This film tries to do both and fails miserably.There's just too much to say and not enough time. There are several problems with this film and it suffers from worst-of-both-worlds syndrome. It has too much story (like TV shows) but not enough time (like film). It has a bigger budget (than TV, $ per minute) but ends up looking like cheap TV shows (amateur production values, pretty boys as actors).The TV show is exactly the opposite. It looks cinematic (even though it's shot on 16mm), the actors are better cast (Libano looks terrifying, the minor gang members look like criminals), there's more time to tell the story (politics, communism, Aldo Moro, fascism, the state, Camorra).Watching the show first, I could barely watch the film. It felt so cheap, it gives the feeling of a 90's MTV music video, both cheesy and dated. The story goes by so fast, like a "previously on Romanzo Criminale" refresher at the beginning of a new season.The show is the story of the gang. The film looks like a trailer by how fast it goes.I rate the show 10/10 to the film's 4/10. The show is a world class series, Golden Age quality. The TV is an easily-forgettable anecdote in the history of Italian cinema.

ronchow By chance I stumbled on a DVD copy of this film and have just finished watching it - all 150 minutes of it. The 2.5 hrs went by fast as I was absorbed by the story and the characters in it. Acting by the several actors was good, although I know none of them. Directing was smooth. The only things missing was my understanding of the political backdrop in Italy in the 70's. This knowledge would have enabled to understanding the plot better.On the other hand, my ignorance of the director, the actors, and the backdrop time period gives me total objectivity - I watched it strictly for a cinematic experience. And I was not disappointed.

Nick Selwood I've only just watched this on TV but have been meaning to watch it for a while now (never seemed to be sent from my rental list!).I recently watched Gomorrah and was disappointed with it considering the ridiculously over-hyped reviews it got. Gomorrah made no sense, seemed to be edited badly and like one other reviewer pointed out - had some information at the very end of the film that should have been placed at the start...I don't know what the makers of the film were thinking! Very confusing to watch and the five strands didn't really mesh together well. Some good parts thought but not good as a whole.Romanza Criminale on the other hand...straight away you are introduced to the characters and know where you are with them. Much better for the viewer compared to Gomorrah. The translation for Romanza Criminale is 'Crime Novel' and this made me think 'Pulp Fiction'. However, this is more like an Italian version of Goodfellas with a bit of Once Upon a Time in America thrown in - we see the protagonists as kids then grown up etc.Im not going to go into details but if you want to see a gangster film with a difference, watch this! The subtitles don't distract you at all and the performances are great.Better than Gomorrah. By far.

majljnda-1 The best Italian movie in the last 20 years. The birth and the growing of a group a of criminals told by Placido quite differently from his big previous works as "Piovra" was. A perfect synchronization of events and soundtrack that accompanies the whole film intensifying the importance of all what's happening in the Italy of those years. Extracted by fully true story that had shocked Italians in the 80' it has no documentary tones but real artistic interpretation of the facts. It is a very brave movie for telling political realities of the opaque seen by a very critical point of view . Fantastic dialogs ( even they were sometimes in-comprehensive for often in Rome's dialect ). I enjoyed this film at list 5 times in a month and I invited people to watch it. Thanks to Placido for having given to these young ( and not ) actors the possibility to demonstrate they are able to play big roles. great movie , it's a seen it's not so well distributed all over world.