Give Me American Gangster Any Day

Gomorrah was billed as a real look at the real mafia. None of this Americanised schmaltz with the likes of DeNiro and Pesci beating up people with pay phones while shovelling crazy amounts of coke up their schnozzes. And yet I found myself wishing I was watching Casino or Goodfellas only half an hour into this monster three hour long effort.

It fell somewhere between a documentary and a film – not a good place for any piece of entertainment to lie.

Several separates stories were going on at once and yet there was no attempt to weave them together in any effective or artistic way. This left me confused and frustrated.

There needed to be a prologue to this film to explain what the Gomorrah actually is and how there are two sides to the battle and which part of the city of Naples is involved in which part. Basically this ‘docufilm’ needed a prologue. No director should assume an intelligent and well read audience. A film goer should be able to go into any cinema, sit down at the start of a film and be entertained and educated.

I don’t object to being confused, even for the entire duration of a film, (my patience runs a lot longer than a lot of my friends) as long as I am enlightened at the end of it.

Gomorrah just ends. And after far too long in my opinion.

Yes there’s an epilogue but not one which connects to the drama you have just seen therefore it fails to elicit an emotional response – it was kind like the end of a bloody BBC documentary a new research team have put together.

I am not doubting the acting was good – it was that good I think it was nearly real – as in documentary real – but it just failed to entertain or rivet me – the one duty of a filmmaker.
Call me callous as I believe the real story of the mafia is no where near as sexy as the first halves of most Scorsese films but at least they grab you.

Equally I hate it when these gangster films are too much like Guy Ritchie’s mob attempts or others like Layer Cake. The Business (director – Nick Love) however, was understated and quite budget but genius – violent and yet entertaining.

Directors – stay true to authenticity, but give us, the audience, something to chew on too. Make a documentary and then our expectations are different – but make a film – we need something more.