Mafia Inc.
e-OnePossibly the world’s first French Canadian Italian gangster movie is finally here.
Although it takes a little while to adjust to the atypical setting of this very Scorsese/Coppola influenced crime drama, Mafia Inc wastes no time in getting to the meat of the story. Sergio Castellitto plays Frank Paterno, the godfather of a Sicilian gang, one of Montreal’s biggest crime syndicates. His eldest son, Giaco (Donny Falsetti), is attempting to earn his stripes but seems to be outshone at every step by his childhood friend, Vince Gamache (the film’s breakout Marc-André Grondin). Interestingly enough, Vince is the son of a talented tailor who has been, quite literally, dressing the mob for three generations.
The almost psychotic Vince ends up getting ahead of Giaco on the Mafia ladder, earning Frank’s trust over his own son’s. This sparks a jealousy in Giaco, who soon ends up discovering that Vince earned his promotion by staging a huge operation. Vince immediately earns a target on his back and he ends up having to go to war with the family who took him in in the first place.
The Vince-Giaco dynamic is easily the best arc in the film. Vince is introduced as a bit of a loose cannon and commits several horrendous deeds in order to gain favour with Frank. Giaca, on the other hand, is shown to be much more deliberate and thoughtful – his jealousy justified. However, screenwriter Sylvain Guy is clever enough to give this obvious relationship a bit of a twist. After Vince is disowned by the family, the film flashes back to several years before to explore the early childhood of Vince and Giaco and the tragic history of Vince and his family. It’s an interesting way to suddenly bring empathy to an easily unlikable character and shifts the whole perspective of the film into slightly murkier waters.
However, after Vince’s dismissal, the film seems to meander before bringing it back together for a brutal and bloody climax. Instead of continuing to focus on Vince’s arc, the movie instead centres on Frank and a rapidly impending police investigation. It seems to come out of nowhere and, at first, feels almost like Guy and director Daniel Grou, aka Podz, are just trying to check off ‘trial scene’ on their Mafia movie bingo card. It is a huge distraction from the main storyline, but actually serves as a way to introduce some of the detectives and cops on the case.
Marc-André Grondin is definitely the heart of this film. Vince doesn’t offer up anything particularly new as a character but Grondin makes sure to leave an impression regardless. And, although it occasionally loses its way, Mafia Inc is an immensely enjoyable mob flick with a tremendously satisfying conclusion and a must-watch for fans of the genre.