Adagio

What it lacks... is a gripping and original plot, as well as enough dazzling set pieces to make all the late exposition worthwhile.

“Somewhat epic like Michael Mann’s ‘Heat’ (1995) and political in nature like Sollima’s underrated series ‘ZeroZeroZero’ (2020), ‘Adagio’ executes its brutal messaging through cinematographer Paolo Carnera’s observant visual language.”

Surprisingly, Sollima’s film went into production without a full script, but the finished film is confident, sleek and intricately organised, often holding back vital information often until the last possible moment.

A rousing combination of slick execution, dramatic grittiness, and grandiose morality that revels in the mythic archetypes of the genre and swings for the fences with its Shakespearean themes of honour, loyalty, destiny and death.