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GOMORRAHMovie Reviews
Italian Mafia film, weaving five stories together in a violent portrait of the cruel realities endured by the residents of the Province of Naples, Italy. Cast:Salvatore Cantalupo, Gianfelice Imparato, Maria Nazionale, Toni Servillo, Gigio MorraDirector:Matteo GarroneRelease Date:February 13, 2009DVD Release:November 24, 2009From:IFCLength:2 hr. 17 min.
Gomorrah played in key cities to sensational reviews. • Kenneth Turan wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "...winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and Italy's entry in the Oscar race... a vividly panoramic film about a pitiless world of criminality." • And Christy Lemire wrote for Associated Press, "...upends everything you think you know about the mob, and mob movies." More Reviews Below...
Leah Rozen, People: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...standout drama deftly weaves together multiple stories to illustrate the pervasive reach and tragic cost of organized crime..."(See all of Leah Rozen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 30 words, 02/19/09
Richard Corliss, Time: OUTSTANDING "...probably the bleakest, least sentimental study of the Mafia in Italian or American film history.... death explodes, prosaically, capriciously, as in Baghdad or Kabul."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 664 words, 02/12/09
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Don't look for resolution, romanticism, or comic relief in this underworld tour... Instead, there's the power of damning truth."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 361 words, 02/20/09
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: VERY GOOD(cg) "...upends everything you think you know about the mob, and mob movies.... a movie that's so defiantly minimalist, you'd think it was a documentary."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 574 words, 02/26/09
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (12 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...this is a world in which people kill other human beings as casually as you take out the garbage because, for them, other human beings are fundamentally disposable."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,071 words, 02/13/09
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and Italy's entry in the Oscar race... a vividly panoramic film about a pitiless world of criminality."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 667 words, 12/19/08
V.A. Musetto, New York Post: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...the source of the story is 'Gomorrah: Italy's Other Mafia,' a best-seller that earned its 20-something author, Roberto Saviano, a mob death threat..."(See all of V.A. Musetto's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 373 words, 02/13/09
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...has its own nerve, as well as the filmmaking intelligence to strip the cliches from its densely packed, authentically inhabited narrative."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 916 words, 02/27/09
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: VERY GOOD(cg) "...here you'll find fat guys in cheap shirts sitting in shabby apartments and bickering over a few euro. This isn't the Mafia as we normally see it..."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 275 words, 03/06/09
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: MODERATE "The structure feels random, and the characters remain at arm's length.... the movie is small potatoes: excellent journalism, so-so art."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 231 words, 02/09/09
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "...an energetic - if somewhat exhausting - indictment of thug life that finds the Camorra mob's corrosive influence working on every level of Neapolitan society."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 231 words, 03/12/09
KEY CITIES (14 Reviews)
Jan Stuart, Washington Post: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Garrone was a painter before becoming a filmmaker... this reveals itself in stark images in which characters seem to get swallowed up by an unforgiving environment."(See all of Jan Stuart's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 540 words, 02/27/09
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: OUTSTANDING(cg) "As plain, cold and hard as an automatic weapon, Matteo Garrone's blunt-faced crime saga shoots straight and leaves a pile of bodies."(See all of Amy Biancolli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 640 words, 03/13/09
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...as perhaps the most realistic depiction of the banal brutality of mob life ever, it certainly casts that life in a different light."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 731 words, 04/10/09
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...both a staggering realist thriller and a jeremiad.... Matteo Garrone is an exhilarating filmmaker, but 'Gomorrah' is not a sensationalistic film."(See all of Wesley Morris's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 814 words, 02/27/09
Ted Fry, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...the formal structure and narrative approach of 'Gomorrah' is precisely calculated to elevate its genre to a new level of art and entertainment."(See all of Ted Fry's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 428 words, 02/27/09
Clint O'Connor, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: EXCELLENT(cg) "The film's great strength is also its weakness. We scratch the surface of these realistic thugs, but rarely break through to who they really are."(See all of Clint O'Connor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 405 words, 04/10/09
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was the official Italian submission for the Academy Awards."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 388 words, 03/27/09
Cary Darling, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD(cg) "There isn't much hope in this universe, and there are no happy endings. Like the biblical city for which it's named, 'Gomorrah' presents a doomed and dying society."(See all of Cary Darling's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 400 words, 10/16/09
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: VERY GOOD(cg) "Maybe the most memorable character is the vast concrete housing project where most of the characters (some played by local residents) dwell."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 588 words, 02/26/09
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "...an energetic - if somewhat exhausting - indictment of thug life that finds the Camorra mob's corrosive influence working on every level of Neapolitan society."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 231 words, 03/12/09
Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper: FAIR "...doesn't make for compelling art. The film's unflinching, verité style makes you wonder why Garrone didn't just make a documentary..."(See all of Tricia Olszewski's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 602 words, 02/26/09
HIGHBROW PRESS (5 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...this is a world in which people kill other human beings as casually as you take out the garbage because, for them, other human beings are fundamentally disposable."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,071 words, 02/13/09
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: OUTSTANDING "...a vision of criminality as a vast miasma... the dramatic structure is complex, the details are instructive, and the sense of tragedy is momentous."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 468 words, 02/13/09
Anthony Lane, New Yorker: OUTSTANDING "...a beautiful movie.... what is most impressive about Garrone is his refusal to let his style be bulldozed by the runaway violence of his subject."(See all of Anthony Lane's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,304 words, 02/16/09
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and Italy's entry in the Oscar race... a vividly panoramic film about a pitiless world of criminality."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 667 words, 12/19/08
MOVIE INDUSTRY (4 Reviews)
Jay Weissberg, Daily Variety: VERY GOOD "...mesmerizing... a chillingly matter-of-fact crescendo of violence, though interwoven tales tend to dissipate the full force of the criminal Camorra families' insidious control."(See all of Jay Weissberg's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 871 words, 05/18/08
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and Italy's entry in the Oscar race... a vividly panoramic film about a pitiless world of criminality."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 667 words, 12/19/08
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "...this is a world in which people kill other human beings as casually as you take out the garbage because, for them, other human beings are fundamentally disposable."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,071 words, 02/13/09
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: OUTSTANDING "...a vision of criminality as a vast miasma... the dramatic structure is complex, the details are instructive, and the sense of tragedy is momentous."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 468 words, 02/13/09
17.0 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Gomorrah's reviews are separated by an average 17.0 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Gomorrah (39 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Gomorrah's reviews cover 78.1% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 21,203 words involume (average is 20,172 words). Length:The film's reviews average 544 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 6 Days After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Gomorrah's reviews on average broke 6 days after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Gomorrah's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
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