Adagio (2023 film)

Adagio
Directed by	Stefano Sollima
Written by	Stefano Bises Stefano Sollima
Produced by	Lorenzo Mieli Stefano Sollima
Starring	Pierfrancesco Favino Toni Servillo Valerio Mastandrea Adriano Giannini
Cinematography	Paolo Carnera
Release date	2 September 2023 (2023-09-02) (Venice)
Country	Italy

Adagio is a 2023 Italian

Twenty-four hours in a Rome decimated by fires and blackouts.

Manuel, a 16 years old boy, one evening infiltrates a homosexual orgiastic party where alcohol and drugs are in circulation in considerable quantities. His task is to immortalize a minister present there as soon as he is guilty of exploitation of child prostitution. While filming his target, however, he realizes that the building has some hidden cameras and, shocked by the idea that shortly before he had been filmed while snorting cocaine, runs away.

The person who forced him to fulfill this task is Vasco, a corrupt policeman whose audiovisual material was commissioned by some high-ranking people in exchange for a large sum of money. Faced with the young man's escape, he flies into a rage and begins to hunt him down. Manuel takes refuge with Polniuman, an old friend of his father Daytona and, like the latter, a former member of the Magliana gang. The man, now blind, agrees to help the boy and sends him to another old acquaintance of Roman crime, Romeo known as Cammello, recently released from prison because he is terminally ill. The latter, however, chases Manuel away, preferring to enjoy his last days of life with his wife.

Thanks to the GPS signal from Manuel's cell phone that Polniuman kept with him, Vasco tracks down the gangster's home and instead of listening to his proposals for a deal, attacks him. The two end up shooting each other, and Polniuman gets the worst of it and is seriously injured. Reached by his trusty Bruno, Vasco finally smothers to death the criminal.

The next day Cammello, faced with Manuel's insistence, finds him a temporary bed on his terrace, then meets up with Daytona, now consumed by senile dementia: the two have not spoken to each other for years since the old man had sent his now former friend to carry out a heist which ended with the death of Cammello's son and the man's sentence to twelve years in prison and a criminal asylum. Daytona, until now unaware of everything because Manuel didn't want to worry him, in a rush of clarity confronts Vasco and Bruno, telling them to forget everything; these, in response, kidnap him and, not getting collaboration from a man mostly dedicated to reasoning without reason, kill him. Then, having consulted the files that linked the old man to Cammello, they go to the latter's apartment while he is not there and place a transceiver under the table.

Manuel tries to go to his house but, finding that it is monitored by some of Vasco's colleagues, he returns to Cammello who opts to accompany the young man to take a train to leave the city. During the journey the boy reveals that Vasco, shortly before, had photographed him while performing fellatio on an adult in exchange for money: that's how Vasco was able to blackmail him in order to do that task in the party, obtaining less material than requested but still finally delivering to his clients. Although Vasco has settled this matter, Manuel still remains a witness and therefore must be eliminated.

Cammello then returns home and only after explaining to his wife where he took Manuel he discover the transceiver, so arrives at the Tiburtina station, in total chaos as many trains have been stopped due to several fires. There he finds Vasco and Bruno who are looking for the boy. The two cops engage in a shootout with Cammello, who dies together with Bruno. Vasco, shot to death in the neck, tries to chase Manuel but dies shortly after.

At the police station, while on television they say that the politician he filmed at the orgy has resigned due to a scandal, Manuel meets one of Vasco's sons and gives him his headphones; the young man thanks.

Outside, the blackouts and fires continue.

In the first part of the closing credits, Polniuman, Cammello and Daytona are remembered with two photos of their golden era interspersed with some short scenes that illustrate the sad end of their corpses: the first two are taken to the morgue, while Daytona is instead crushed by a junkyard together with the car in which he has been locked.

Cast

• Pierfrancesco Favino as Cammello
• Toni Servillo as Daytona
• Valerio Mastandrea as Polniuman
• Adriano Giannini as Vasco
• Gianmarco Franchini as Manuel
• Francesco Di Leva as Bruno

Production

The filming began on 5 September 2022 in Rome.^[1] Adagio is the final installment of Sollima's trilogy about Roman crime following ACAB – All Cops Are Bastards (2012) and Suburra (2015).^[2][3]

Release

The film premiered in-competition at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on 2 September 2023.^[4][5] It was also invited at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in 'World Cinema' section and was screened on 7 October 2023.^[6]

It is scheduled to be released in Italian cinemas on 14 December 2023.^[7]

Reception

During its premiere at Venice, the film received standing ovation of over ten minutes.^[8]

Damon Wise from Deadline positively compared the film to Elio Petri's Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion.^[9]

Variety called the film "a solidly assembled yarn about the on-the-ground consequences of a moral breakdown at the heart of the state".^[10]

Camillo De Marco from Cineuropa described the film as "a finely crafted and well-directed genre film enhanced by the performances of Pierfrancesco Favino and Toni Servillo".^[11]

Time Out gave the film a rating of four stars out of five.^[12]

Awards and nominations

References