The question is basically how many more mafia movies are we willing to endure. Don't we have enough with what the news offers us daily? A second issue we can't seem to resolve is why the mafia is so attractive when its inclination to all things atrocious is well proven. A restaurant invites diners to taste typical Italian products under the sign The Mafia Sits at the Table. Would anyone imagine a chain that would go to the registry office with the name ETA Prepares the Bonito Ventresca like No One Else? The fact is that long before The Godfather, which always sold itself as a reflection on family, and long after Once Upon a Time in America, which aimed to be a structured reading of the wound of time, the mafia and cinema refuse to break their blood pact. And in the midst, and irreplaceably, Robert De Niro.
The Alto Knights would be the latest installment of this strategic alliance between businesses. Although truth be told, and to be fair to the proposal of the very veteran Barry Levinson, it is more of a tribute to that long and very fruitful tradition with the unmistakable air of a somewhat lackluster end-of-party. Age takes its toll. Not only is the script by an expert in the field like Nicholas Pileggi, also the author of the scripts for Goodfellas and Casino by Martin Scorsese, but, and as the main attraction, Robert De Niro brings to life not one but both main characters as protagonist and antagonist, and vice versa, in a display of narcissism as shameless as it is entertaining and undoubtedly out of control. Yes, the plot sounds outdated, the story seems lazy and overwhelming, and let's admit it, actor De Niro is not at his best moment... but who cares. What Levinson does is a happy and unbiased reunion with all the mafia stories that have made it possible for a restaurant to sit us at a table next to a bloodthirsty killer. It's terrible, but who can resist.
The film tells the story of two organized crime bosses from New York: On one side, Frank Costello and, on the other, Vito Genovese. De Niro plays both. One, deceitful, ill-tempered, angry, and violent; the other, calculating, strategic, and political. Two ways of facing life, the same way of dealing with death. The film, like all in the genre, approaches the story as if it were a Greek tragedy. Indeed, what is being settled is nothing more than a duel between brothers with almost biblical manners that seems as predictably perfect as it is tiresome. But very charming.
From here, from the presentation of the myth, Levinson manages to compose an entertaining, undoubtedly, game of cross-references. It's not so much about the story as it is, but the story for itself (as Hegel said). That is, what matters is the necessarily intimate relationship of each viewer with the legend that so many films have forged, so emblematic about the same topic. Much of the footage feeds on the feeling that Sergio Leone imprinted on his saga without giving up any of the tropes that Coppola, Scorsese, or even Ferrara elevated to the status of obligatory cinematic reference. It's not exactly a parody, but a bit of one; it's not comedy, but it's funny; it's not tragedy, nor does it pretend to be. And so on. Let's say it's classic cinema that knows itself so perfectly classic that it ends up being the opposite. Levinson, who is now 82 years old, has always shown his irreverent ability and grace to laugh at his age and everyone else's.
The result is De Niro. We are not witnessing his best performance, but we are with him. Because in truth, De Niro doesn't bring to life two mobsters as the script wants us to believe, but De Niro simply plays the role of De Niro. Yes, De Niro is Frank and De Niro is Vito, but what De Niro truly is, is Johnny Boy, Corleone, Noodles, James Conway, Sam 'Ace' Rothstein, Frank Sheeran, and all the more or less mobster Italian-American characters that he has not only portrayed but embodied throughout his career. De Niro is a piece of our retina. And you know it. Although, truth be told, De Niro is starting to be too much.
Director: Barry Levinson. Cast: Robert De Niro, Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, Kathrine Narducci. Duration: 120 minutes. Nationality: United States.