Suburra: Blood on Rome

The film version is a little bit better, but the series has enough room to be narratively robust and scripted to a tee, though it doesn't always get the balance of characters and the pulse right. It's also an unpleasant finding that what initially looks like a prequel to the feature film goes its own way in subsequent seasons, gradually losing continuity with the film. Even so, it's a beautifully atmospheric, pulsating mafia series with superbly acted main characters, European minimalism and is great fun most of the time. (08/30/2024)

I consider the feature film Suburra to be one of the films of the decade, the tv series version of Gomorrah to be one of the best tv series ever. And this serial prequel, which takes place during the course of three weeks combines the above and is made from the creative team of the feature and serial versions of Romanzo Criminale. Let´s put it this way, in short, this one has all the prerequisites to be the new Gomorrah. And basically, it can be said that it fulfills these preconditions. Especially when it's not a copy-cat. The movie follows its own way inspired by the full-length Suburra. It focuses on the complex (if you found that there were too many narrative lines in the film, note that there are even more of them in each episode, and they all exist both independently and as an integral part of the whole picture) and raw insight into the gangster-political-church averted face of Rome, from the sheer bottom of mafia flunks up to political leaders. The only major snag is the cast of some roles, where a few protagonists can't handle their party. Which is even more obvious as it´s a piece of cake for the others. (10/09/2017)