Suburra

Based on a novel taking its title from the ancient Roman quarter where senators consorted with lowlifes, this is a wrenchingly gritty and intricate thriller. It owes much to the TV series Romanzo Criminale and Gomorrah that Stefano Sollima has been directing since making his feature bow with ACAB - All Cops Are Bastards (2012), and its twisting tale is set during a fictionalised week in 2011 when Pope Benedict abdicates, Silvio Berlusconi loses office and a deluge is lashing the Eternal City. The plot ostensibly turns on a lucrative property development in the seaside resort of Ostia, but Sollima is more interested in the combustible interaction between a besuited mobster (Claudio Amendola), an unscrupulous politico (Pierfrancesco Favino), a social climber (Elio Germano), a Gypsy loan shark (Adamo Dionisi) and a one-time terrorist (Alessandro Borghi) and his crack-addicted girlfriend (Greta Scarano). Evoking the spirit of 1970s crime maestro Fernando Di Leo, Sollima's sense of pace and place is impeccable, while the performances seethe with decadence, danger and despair.