Adagio (2023) tells a familiar story – dirty cops on the prowl, trying to tie up the loose ends that could prove knotty for them. It’s the showing involved in the telling that makes Stefano Sollima’s crime drama distinctive.
The visually breath-taking film grabs us from the first scene – an aerial shot of Rome with fires raging in the distance. Paolo Carnera’s cameras zoom into the home of a teenager who is about to get embroiled in a racket beyond his understanding.
Asked to infiltrate a gay party with a hidden camera, Manuel panics and flees. In hot pursuit is Vasco, a corrupt police officer who is operating on behalf of a politician. Manuel seeks shelter with his Mafioso father’s former associate Polniuman. Although reluctant to help, Polniuman is nevertheless sucked into a game that drags in Manuel’s elderly father Daytona too.
The Italian movie, which is available on Netflix, is set over the course of 24 hours. Like the gradually unfolding musical passage after which it is named, Adagio proceeds at leisure. The slow-burning approach allows for deep characterisations, layered performances, and escalating suspense. Rome is revealed as a precarious place, its architectural beauty barely concealing betrayal, violence and moral bankruptcy.
Adagio’s director Stefano Sollima has an illustrious career in cinema and television. With the TV series Gomorrah and ZeroZeroZero under his belt, he has a reputation for slickly produced and deftly performed projects. Sollima’s father is Sergio Sollima, who is familiar to Indians as the director of the Italian show Sandokan, starring Kabir Bedi as a pirate lord.
In Adagio, Stefano Sollima creates a gripping, immersive and unpredictable narrative. The stylistic flourishes match the movie’s exploration of moral ambiguity.
The 127-minute movie is dipped in pools of light and darkness caused by frequent blackouts because of the fires raging on the horizon. No character can escape the heat, whether it’s Vasco, who is keen on keeping his end of the bargain, or Manuel, who is desperate to survive his ordeal.
Adagio is the concluding part in a trilogy. The previous entries, ACAB (2012) and Suburra (2015), are stand-alone movies exploring the nexus between cops, Mafia elements and politicians in the Italian capital. All three films have a recurring set of actors.
Pierfrancesco Favino, the wonderful actor from The Traitor (2019), is nearly unrecognisable as the bald-headed and wiry Polniuman. Toni Servillo (Il Divo, The Grand Beauty) is brilliant too as Manuel’s menacing father. Adriano Giannini, as Vasco, and Gianmarco Franchini, as Manuel, are compelling as desperadoes who find that the night is as treacherous as the day.
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