Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor is his latest slice of unconformist Italian cinema whose mafia tale is a brutal knockout. It has such a rare script that goes against everything we know about conventional mob-genre film rules. It’s a cinematic miracle.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 27, 2022

The film is dynamically suspended between the pathos of rise and fall and the monotony of daily life, though punctually subdued and understated; it flows like a Homeric poem.

Full Review | Jul 13, 2021

These thoughts, if ruminated on too deeply, can be as chilling the deeds of individuals in the film...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 18, 2021

This telling of the story of Tommaso, ... the first high-ranking figure in the Cosa Nostra to inform on the crime organization, rings utterly true as far as it goes.

Full Review | Feb 13, 2021

As Buscetta, Favino is a terrific presence, charismatic as past Italian tough guys such as Lino Ventura.

Full Review | Jan 9, 2021

Favino, a familiar face internationally as a lumpen heavy, gives a galvanising career-best performance...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 22, 2020

Parts of The Traitor take place in the United States. It's always great to see European films with American-set scenes that weren't shot here.

Full Review | Sep 16, 2020

The Traitor has all the trappings of an indecently immoral entertainment. Yet it has turned out be oddly flattened.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 14, 2020

An authentic and very thrilling film about the mafia's world. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 1, 2020

A complex character study emerges, one that is inherently unflattering (Buscetta is a ruthless killer), in a restlessly intelligent film.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 24, 2020

A brooding, two-inch-thick porterhouse steak of a movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 23, 2020

The moral ambiguities and questions of legacy, friendship, family and integrity in Marco Bellochio's The Traitor are the strongest points of an ambitious, punishing addition to a long line of films to explore the inner workings of the Cosa Nostra.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 23, 2020

Carried by Pierfrancesco Favino's layered central performance.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 22, 2020

Most memorably, it captures what it must be like to live your life looking over your shoulder and, given the brazen nature of the men's appalling crimes, the absolute inevitability of their demise.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 20, 2020

Italian mob biopic is courtroom drama with bloody violence.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 1, 2020

Resists the call of "Godfather" films' commercialism by providing a truer picture of how the Italian mafia really conducts business.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | May 15, 2020

A biopic that probably represents the best true story of the Italian mafia on the big screen.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | May 8, 2020

Both The Irishman and The Traitor explore how hollow the back half of a criminal life can be.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Apr 2, 2020

A legitimately Italian Mafia movie with memoirs, might, mayhem and a running time at least an hour shorter than 'The Irishman.'

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 14, 2020

There's a sharper film lurking somewhere insider... But those wanting a more detailed exploration of organized crime in Italy - and the mental trauma it inflicted on soldiers and civilians alike - would do well to make time for Bellocchio's latest.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 12, 2020