TY - JOUR
T1 - Social critique and viewer’s response in the Italian Gangster film
T2 - the case of Bandits in Milan (1968) and Romanzo Criminale (2005)
AU - Paoli, Marco
AU - Pezzotti, Barbara
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - This article investigates the development of the Italian gangster film and its interconnections with film noir. Specifically, this article will focus on those cinematic manifestations’ attempts to explore post-war Italian culture, society and political context through the portrayal of some of the most important Italian criminal figures of this period. It argues that, while sharing some characteristics such as the femme fatale, flashback structures and a narrative of betrayal, like its American counterpart the Italian gangster film also presents a flexibility that show the mutative qualities of the genre. In order to prove this point, this article analyses two gangster films: Carlo Lizzani’s Bandits in Milan (1968) and Michele Placido’s Romanzo criminale (2005) also through the lens of the viewer’s process of identification. By showing how the protagonists and their victims are represented in these films, and how this intersects with the social critique featured in these films, this article revaluates the Italian gangster film as a creative and artistic output that should be analysed beyond its generic conventions.
AB - This article investigates the development of the Italian gangster film and its interconnections with film noir. Specifically, this article will focus on those cinematic manifestations’ attempts to explore post-war Italian culture, society and political context through the portrayal of some of the most important Italian criminal figures of this period. It argues that, while sharing some characteristics such as the femme fatale, flashback structures and a narrative of betrayal, like its American counterpart the Italian gangster film also presents a flexibility that show the mutative qualities of the genre. In order to prove this point, this article analyses two gangster films: Carlo Lizzani’s Bandits in Milan (1968) and Michele Placido’s Romanzo criminale (2005) also through the lens of the viewer’s process of identification. By showing how the protagonists and their victims are represented in these films, and how this intersects with the social critique featured in these films, this article revaluates the Italian gangster film as a creative and artistic output that should be analysed beyond its generic conventions.
KW - banda Cavallero
KW - Banda della Magliana
KW - film noir
KW - Gangster film
KW - Lizzani
KW - Placido
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088947995&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/17411548.2020.1798103
DO - 10.1080/17411548.2020.1798103
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85088947995
SN - 1741-1548
VL - 17
SP - 249
EP - 264
JO - Studies in European Cinema
JF - Studies in European Cinema
IS - 3
ER -