An old feud between two rival families is rekindled by a forbidden love: one between Andrea, reluctant heir of the Malatesta, and Marilena, the beautiful wife of the boss of the Camporeale clan.
Screened at this year’s Venice International Film festival, “Ti Mangio Il Cuore” is a stylish take on Romeo and Juliet. Framed like an operatic western but with a touch of modern flair, three rival clans, the Malatestas, the Montanari’s, and the Comporeales, share a fragile peace until “star-crossed lovers” from two of the clans fall in love. Shot in black and white, the film begins in the 1960s with the massacre of the Malatestas, leaving their young son Michele as the lone survivor. Afterward, the events move to 2004; Michele is now an older man and the Don of his family.
Michele’s son Andrea (Francesco Patanè) is a scrawny young man and all-around the opposite of his strict father. Andrea complicates the clans’ temporary peace by falling for Marilena Camporeale (Elodie), a gorgeous woman, her big eyes and cool demeanor make her one of the most watchable characters on the screen. The two begin an affair that leads to bloodshed, which inevitably leads to, well, you know, more bloodshed. Teresa (Lidia Vitale), the matriarch of the Malatestas, also presides over the ongoing vendetta, and when she speaks, her gruff voice is as distinct as Michael Wincott’s. She is ruthless in her thirst for vengeance and defies the patriarchal mobster structure showcased in a majority of films. Vitale previously appeared in “Suburra,” one of Rome’s most entertaining films about the modern mafia.
Director of photography Michele D’Attanasio, who worked on the excellent “Gomorrah” series, shoots every frame immaculately. The vision is so on point that the slick cinematography unintentionally undercuts the film’s sincerity. Andrea’s inevitable transformation into a hardened sociopath while Marilena oddly disappears into the background was a thematic mixed bag. Ultimately, “Ti Mangio Il Cuore” becomes predictable and unfortunately cannot sustain a compelling narrative past its intriguing first act.
“Ti Mangio Il Cuore” recently premiered at the 2022 79th Venice International Film Festival
