Passione Reviews
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Turturro creates the sense that music spews spontaneously from the average Neapolitan and limits the film's educational quotient. But as anyone who has been to Naples knows, you don't go there to learn but to live, out loud.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Playback:stl
Nothing is middle-of-the-road here: It's heartbreaking passion or riotous humor, and always performed at full throttle.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7/10
Top CriticIt's a happy ramble through the storied streets with Turturro as our guide, not pretending to be an expert; it's more like having a good friend take you to this place he really loves.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Close to the sublime, especially if you have a thing for sensuous Italians of either gender unleashing ballads of soaring romantic masochism.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Reeling Reviews
...the music, with songs of infidelity, romance, sorrow and joy, is my draw to "Passione."
Full Review
| Original Score: B
Reeling Reviews
...something very unique and often mesmerizing
Full Review
| Original Score: B+
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Part documentary, part musical, all fabulous. John Turturro's deep affection for Naples, Italy, and its music shines through every frame.
Full Review
| Original Score: A
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
That's the charm of "Passione." Turturro is so head over heels in love with this city and this music he's willing to risk looking a little stupid. Ah, l'amore.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
East Bay Express
Like pasta, Turturro throws it on the wall and some of it sticks.
St. Paul Pioneer Press
There's a pleasant song at the beginning of "Passione." Then, another one that sounds almost exactly the same. Then, another and another and another.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1.5/4
Passione is a surprise and a delight from beginning to end.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
What Turturro, who appears in the film as a combination tour guide and impresario, has come up with is closer to a fantasia than a traditional documentary.
A beautifully structured and photographed film, John Turturro's rapturous "Passione" offers a vibrant exploration and celebration of Neapolitan music in all its grit and glory...
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Loosely structured as a sort of musical travelogue, with 23 song performances interwoven, it's as passionate as the singers it showcases, enveloping the viewer in the soulful music it celebrates.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Oregonian
You can't exactly say you've learned the story of Neapolitan music after watching it, but you certainly feel invigorated by the color, motion and, especially, sound that Turturro has marshaled.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
[A] ironic, flamboyant and sentimental anthology of the divergent and colliding musical styles of Naples...
Entertainers bloom from nowhere, sing and then vanish - it's rather like an extended music video.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
Monsters and Critics
A multi-dimensional painting of the rich culture of Naples in sound and image.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7/10
Film-Forward.com
[D]espite confusing presentation of . . . specifics of each song and artist . . . the passion comes through, enthusiastically bringing Neapolitan music to the world stage.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7/10
