Gomorra caused quite a buzz on release in the US and across Europe. The gritty realism used in telling the story of Naples much bigger and wealthier version of the Mafia, the Camorra, explodes the myth of Hollywood’s treatment of mob drama, which often suffuses the violence with a romantic glow of period nostalgia or living the high life.

Garonne offers us five interweaved stories of the day labourers of syndicated crime, young and old, committed criminals to reluctant stooges. Their involvement with the Camorra ranges from the fashion business, to getting rid of toxic waste to, more predictably, the drug trade. The life is brutal. A code of honour is talked about but not followed killing is perfunctory and inevitable. Garonne’s almost documentary style gives the film its power where the action is realistic, there is never a camera angle or shot for effect, and the characters speak with a flatness knowing they might be talking with the person hired to kill them or a future victim.

The film is authentic, based on fact and when we know this it raises the question why, in the real world, do some willingly work for the Camorra when the rewards are so low and the life so grim. A gripping, multi-award-winning film enjoy might not be quite the right word but it will be a powerful experience.

Its alert, superior directorial work from Garrone, who, perhaps not even realizing it, has redefined the nature of the mob genre. He’s scrapped away the lusty glow of brotherhood brutality to reveal its insidious nature and predatory intentions. eFilmcritic.com

This vibrantly disorientating cinematic import reinvents the vocabulary of the crime drama with a painterly eye and feverish documentary style. Jan Stuart, Washington Post.