Piranhas

Good movie about the life of a very young gang that morphs into the new generation of the mob. It's directed very dryly which adds to the realism, but it falls into some of the usual tropes of mob movies. Solid performances throughout.

Didn't even watched a trailer before so my expectations were very low. Actually a really decent mafia flick even though this movie is about the younger generation in Naples. Story developed very well, pacing was also good. Never felt even slightly bored in 2 hours. Oh and the actors did a great job despite they're basically "NoNames". Overall a real hidden gem of a movie. (I didnt liked the ending that much so it's not a 10 for me) I'm hyped to see more of Claudio Giovannesi in the future. 8.5/10

Now I'm not comparing this to City of God, just to be clear. I just like coming up with nice summary/pun lines. Connections can be made to a degree of course, but they can stop at the fact that you have kids and criminality as subject mater here. Having said that, the movie may feel slow to some. But it is quite impactful nonetheless. Not to mention that the style (in your face, the actors faces that is) is quite harrowing. It really puts you in the middle of it. You may disagree with certain things, like the one central female character being swayed by macho and bully behavior ("male" king of the jungle style), but don't forget what world they all grew up in. So this is as authentic (or at least feels like it) as it gets. And the dialog (which may or may not be a bit improvised - otherwise kudos to the actors for conveying their emotions in such manner) is just on the spot! If you are into these types of movies, you'll rejoice and be "entertained". Otherwise maybe you'd like to stay away from this

The beginning was quite nice to watch, but after a certain point the film becomes a long sequence of actions which don't have their consequences. I had and still have 1 million unanswered questions about certain characters, events which happened in the film and relations in between them. It was a nice try to portret the gangster life in Napels, but i think they wanted to show too much, which lead to a non profound film on all levels. Feels like a big missed opportunity. The ending was super frustrating, i just watched the credits out of despite. You can end a film pessimistically, but at least end your story. It felt like the film ended midway, just way too many loose ends! It's worth a watch but this film probably will disappear in my dusty memories as "one of those films you once watched and then never looked back to".

I found this very hard to take seriously. There's no real dramatic tension as things just seem to progress super smoothly: the boys who wish to have lots of money, very quickly and easily get lots of money. Where are the difficulties to be overcome? Where is any significant sign of consequences?

One caveat - I'm sure this film would've been far better if I spoke Italian. That's on me. With English subtitles the dialogue is pedestrian and not quite how you'd expect young gang members to talk to each other. A few issues - one is how easily a gang of 15 year old displaces the existing gang of adults who, after a torched car and some shots fired at a veranda, all move out. Another example of unlikely reaction is when the lead character tells a rival gang member to take him to Don Vittorio and he agrees because "he said so". I've heard of the baby faced assassin but thelead character doesn't have a menacing hair on his angelic face to warrant such a compliant set of contemporaries. I was expecting more gut wrenching violence and yes, there are a couple of deaths (and one close to the lead character) but I sat there expecting the adults to roll back in with proper hitmen and start wiping the kids out. Never happened. This is a film that is a slow burn from start to end and the crescendo you sit there waiting for never happens. Seen lots of positive reviews and awards but Goodfellas or Gomorrah this is not.

I absolutely loved Gomorrah series which felt very real and everything about it was just top class, the acting, the storyline.. this was just a lot of BS with no ending on top of it. I was waiting all the movie for someone to finally sort these little idiots out and unfortunately i didn't get that.

The popularity of Italian language gang movies and TV shows has risen to high level in recent years and we have Gomorrah and Suburra to thank for that and while Piranhas isn't quite up to their standards, it's still an interesting look at the underclasses in Napoli . Six 15-year-old boys deal drugs and use assault rifles to rule their neighborhood in Naples, interested only in making money, wearing designer clothes and surviving in a world where they believe they have no future. There isn't much of a story in this film . It flows like the boys lives . Without a care . The kids live for today and that's the way the movie is made . Not a great deal of structure but plenty of spontaneity. They probably know things are never going to turn out well but they are going to enjoy it while they can . Exactly as it did watching it .

One thing first: I did not read the underlying book by Roberto Saviano. In that sense, at best, I did not bring a lofty expectation of a proper implementation of a literary material, but could dedicate myself openly to the screening of the film. However, this endeavor became more difficult as a result of the film being awarded the Silver Bear for best screenplay at this year's Berlin International Film Festival. Such an award, which honored the shared work of the books author and the director, raises the bar quite high for the viewer. Additionally, the plots 'Mafia' topic couldn't be called to be among my preferred areas of interest. Concerning the genre this full-length motion picture for sure can be counted to the crime films, but is due to its content course also to be regarded as a drama. The storyline follows the experiences of a group of young people in the Naples of the present time and is located in an inner city setting between latent poverty, educational backwardness, archaic local power structures, violent conflict resolutions, ambition, high risk-taking and naive carelessness. The film does not approach this social subdivision gently and piece by piece, but establishes a narrative perspective that seems to originate from it and at the same time allows it to unfold in the eyes of the audience. This dramaturgical gimmick guarantees a high action dynamic from the beginning on, which is also captured by a frequent use of a shaky hand camera. During 110 entertaining minutes, authentic realities of life are touched upon, their points of contact representing the knots in the network of the storyline. The viewer is repeatedly put into pictures whose brute emotionality leaves at best astonishment, but rather bewilderment. However, this really powerful dramaturgy is at the same time the disadvantageous flip side of this coin: trying to bring such a complex social structure with different characters in just over one and a half hours on the canvas, the film is overstrained and woody in places. The predominantly young actors play lifelike and fresh, however, I came to the supposition that the German dubbing of the southern Italian language reflects the original habitus only inadequately and thus the parzivalous briskness of the young Machos supposedly might not convincingly be intoned. Open and obvious questions remain unanswered sometimes, while on the other hand unexpected insights into the mental state of individual protagonists arouse sympathy and understanding. The predominantly established closeups support this personal closeness and dares only to a full shot or a half-total, if the larger spatial context are able to reflect the individual inner conflicts and forsakeness. The escape, pursuit and fun tours captured in rapid motorcycle rides through the labyrinthine road network of the chaotic metropolis, alternately in a pursuing or preceding axis of vision, can also be seen as a metaphor for the wild, inner search for orientation, belonging and meaning. Unfortunately the soundtrack loses almost completely in front of the background of all these rapidly flooding images, despie the fact that the individual music pieces basically support the situations in principle well. All in all, a worth watching movie, with perceptible weaknesses, but entertaining as a cutting-edge social study. It's like a flickering spotlight on a strange and yet so close world.

This follows a group of unemployed youth around Naples as they become entrenched in Mafia business. You get the theme and the message but the movie is just a series of disjointed, unconnected scenes that is intended to show the chaotic and unstable lifestyle of these miscreants. A few scenes like that would get the same message across, a whole movie made like that becomes tiresome about midway through the film. Kind of silly and a bit of a waste of time to watch!