Venice. The Sweet and the Bitter.

"Using an almost anthropological approach to the way Mob life can attract and then repel an average Sicilian, The Sweet and the Bitter might not bring much new to the anti-Mafia genre, but it's a tightly packaged, well-played, character-driven drama with the bonus of a good sense of humor," writes Jay Weissberg in Variety. "That it stars charmer Luigi Lo Cascio is an additional draw, adding complexity and sympathy to the protag without minimizing his petty egotism or brutality."

Lo Cascio plays Saro Scordia, "a low-level Mafia member," the kind of guy "'we read about in the newspapers and easily forget,' as the director put it," who becomes "a chess piece in a power struggle which forces him to become a Mafia turncoat," notes Boyd van Hoeij in Cineuropa. "The film does a deft job of remaining grounded in reality (also established through its production design and period clothes), though its lack of high stakes and action makes the film meander at times."

Posted by dwhudson at September 5, 2007 2:19 AM