QUICK AND DIRTY: LIVE FROM VENICE

A father orders his eldest son to slit the throat off a sheep. The teen shudders with fear. His middle child promptly volunteers to carry out the deed, but dad refuses the offer (presumably because she’s a girl). The youngest of the three, a bespectacled little boy, steps forward and murders the animal without hesitation, blood splattering across his face. He grows up and becomes a prominent mafioso (still wearing the same shades), after inheriting a relic statue called “pupu” from his elder, in a symbolic gesture of hereditary handover. His name is Matteo (played by Elio Germano), a character loosely based on real-life mafia chief Matteo Messina Denaro.

The two directors of 2013’s Salvo and 2017’s widely acclaimed Sicilian Ghost Story make it clear from the outset that this is a movie infused with artistic freedoms: “Reality is a departure point, not a destination”. This is the third time Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza direct a feature film together.

Despite promise of violence, what follows is a psychological drama. Catello (Toni Servillo, of Paolo Sorrentino’s 2019 Loro) is a former mayor desperately seeking to propel his political career. He spent several years in prison, presumably on corruption-related charges. He is soft-spoken and eloquent, affectionately known as “Headmaster”. His family life is a tragedy: his bossy wife has squandered their savings, while his daughter is engaged to obsequious Pino (Giuseppe Tantino). The annoying young man seeks to forge intimacy with his father-in-law-to-be by calling him “dad”, but Catello is not impressed.

Meanwhile, Matteo is still healing from his father’s death. He operates from a secret, remote location: the house of sexy widow called Lucia (Barbora Bobulova). Despite his relatively young age, probably in his 30s, he looks listless and burnt out. A far cry from the energetic mafioso figure associated with the film genre. He uses pizzinis (tiny letters) in order to communicate with his stooges and clients. Police captain Schiavon (Fausto Russi Alessi) tasks Catello with catching fugitive Matteo, who also happens to be his godson (Catello was friends with Matteo’s late father). They begin to correspond through the pizzini.

From that point on, the script begins to lose focus and stumble, and the movie feels interminable with a duration of 122 minutes. The lack of blood is not an issue. It is possible to make an effective mafia drama with little to no violence – such as in Scorsese’s Godfather and Godfather: Part 2 (1972 and 1974). It is the lack of clarity and vigour that hamper the movie. Plus the characters are too unidimensional and caricatural. Their looks are notably weird: Matteo with his shades, and Catello with a clownish hairdo). The dialogues are long-winded and contrived. And without enough psychological depth, the developments fail to engage and rivet.

Sicilian Letters just premiered in the Official Competition of the 81st Venice International Film Festival.