SummaryThe Italian crime drama series based on the best-selling non-fiction book by Roberto Saviano (which also inspired the 2008 film of the same name) is set in Naples where Ciro Di Marzio (Marco D’Amore) works for Camorra godfather Pietro Savastanno (Fortunato Cerlino).
SummaryThe Italian crime drama series based on the best-selling non-fiction book by Roberto Saviano (which also inspired the 2008 film of the same name) is set in Naples where Ciro Di Marzio (Marco D’Amore) works for Camorra godfather Pietro Savastanno (Fortunato Cerlino).
The legacy of the fourth season will be the extreme artistic courage it took to undo the spell of the Ciro-Genny pairing, and the facility with which they navigated the brave new world in its absence. That’s the sign of a show with true vision, and it opens up every possibility.
From one episode to the next, it’s always a bit of a surprise which character will become the story’s central figure, the writers seemingly able to make any of its dramatic players utterly gripping.
This series is actually probably a 9.5 rather than a 10, but as the only other written review at this point is a 5, I figured I'd balance that out and give it a 10. This series is fantastic in so many ways, but as I only have so many characters, I'll be brief. Firstly, the setting is immersive and atmospheric. It's completely shot on location in Naples and later Spain, using mostly Neapolitan actors who, for the most part, are speaking Neapolitan rather than Italian. A good deal is shot in Secondigliano, an outlying area of Naples widely-known for Camorra activity, which brings a feel of gritty urban decay and grey, post-industrial despair to the series. The effect of all these factors is a completely authentic portrayal of the era and place.
Whenever I try to get friends to watch it, I pitch it as "Game of Thrones with coke and guns". Somewhat like Game of Thrones, it follows several of the individual members of one camorra clan as it falls to infighting and civil war. The characters are compelling and almost every one is developed and portrayed as complex human beings despite ranging from deeply morally ambiguous to near-evil. Another comparison I often see made is to The Sopranos. I think the comparison is apt as it also is a near deconstruction of the gangster genre. Some of the themes are organized crime eating the poor and an almost anti-machismo portrayal of male vulnerability, also seen in Sopranos. Last point, the soundtrack is unbelievably good. Mokadelic, an ambient, post-rock band does the music for the series and it's the perfect accompaniment to the uneasy, crepuscular feel of the drama. I rarely buy soundtracks, the only other soundtrack I've bought in the past 5 years is for Wolf Hall, but I have theirs for this series as well as for The Immortal, the spin-off film. It maybe took me about 6 episodes to be completely sold, so if you're planning on watching (which I hope you are after I've typed all this), try to get at least to there. This is the most widely-watched Italian series of all time and there's even an English dub if you don't like subtitles, so you can't use that excuse either. Give it a shot!
[S01] Solid and different (especially in pace) from your usual Hollywood fluff. Narration is slow and elaborate and the aesthetics show with equally elaborate, naturalistic precision all the dirt and the ugliness of Naples suburbs (which is to stress the moral dirt and ugliness of their inhabitants). I don't buy everything that happens plot-wise though (i.e. one central character twist in the middle) and it was both too slow and violent for my linking.
If Gomorrah has a flaw, it’s that the contours of the story feel distinctly familiar, even if the criminals, housing projects, and slick lawyers have unfamiliar names. ... Even so, the rich texture of the color-saturated world created by writer Stefano Bises and directors Stefano Sollima, Francesca Comencini, and Claudio Cupellini is easy to admire. We’ve been here before, but these tour guides have fresh intelligence.
Atmospheric, showing a side of Italy no travelogue would touch, Gomorrah is also fast-paced, covering so much ground in two episodes provided for preview that most series would already be over.
After watching the first episodes, I think the series is good, but I don't understand that it is so cheered. It fits a lot, but overall it's not worth the hype.
Loin des clichés plus ou moins complaisants vis-à-vis de la Mafia que l’on a pu voir ailleurs, cette vision de Cosa Nostra envisagée par Gomorra est sans doute l’une des plus réalistes à ce jour… mais aussi l’une des plus sèches, arides même ! Ici, on ne glorifie pas mais on s’épanche beaucoup trop sur les atermoiements et les psychodrames de la vie quotidienne du clan napolitain.
Je suppose que la série s’efforce de dépeindre une certaine réalité (celle d’une bande de criminels) mais elle s’égare beaucoup trop dans la psychologie de bas étage… et dans le drame caricatural. Les personnages en pâtissent et perdent du coup une bonne partie de leur crédibilité.
La réalisation de bon aloi ne peut faire oublier l’autre gros souci de cette série : sa lenteur indescriptible ! les épisodes d’une heure n’en finissent pas et l’intrigue se traîne trop souvent comme un escargot… à tel point qu’on abandonne au début de la saison 2, laquelle se révèle encore pire à cet égard !
En bref, une série décidément très chiante qui dépasse rarement ses deux de tension habituels, malgré quelques moments dans la saison 1 qui tentent de la sortir de sa torpeur.