Roberto Succo is a "based on true tale" of an Italian serial killer. Roberto ended up mostly in France living an incredibly strange life with normal(ish) girlfriends for some of the time, whilst stealing, raping and murdering the rest of it.
For me some parts of the film were interesting. Obviously the interplay between this insane man and the people he was with, including the girlfriend in France for the most part. Also some of the police chases were somewhat incredible to behold, and had a very real feel to them, unlike normal Hollywood fluff. The direction and acting were particularly good, giving the film an almost fly-on-the-wall feel. Ultimately though the whole film was massively let down for me by two serious failings. Firstly, the execution of either the editing or the story. The story itself jumps around horrendously in time, and broke continuity for me. Although I could pick up the continuity of what happened I can't help but think there were better ways to fill these huge gaps. Secondly, there was very little insight given into what drove Roberto to do the things he did. For example pretending he was a terrorist and spy. Of course he was insane, but I was expecting some attempt at trying to explain his background (other than the fact he murdered his parents). There was also what appeared to be a plot line with the French policeman and Roberto which carried right to the end, but again was never really explained as to why this was significant. 2/5
For me some parts of the film were interesting. Obviously the interplay between this insane man and the people he was with, including the girlfriend in France for the most part. Also some of the police chases were somewhat incredible to behold, and had a very real feel to them, unlike normal Hollywood fluff. The direction and acting were particularly good, giving the film an almost fly-on-the-wall feel. Ultimately though the whole film was massively let down for me by two serious failings. Firstly, the execution of either the editing or the story. The story itself jumps around horrendously in time, and broke continuity for me. Although I could pick up the continuity of what happened I can't help but think there were better ways to fill these huge gaps. Secondly, there was very little insight given into what drove Roberto to do the things he did. For example pretending he was a terrorist and spy. Of course he was insane, but I was expecting some attempt at trying to explain his background (other than the fact he murdered his parents). There was also what appeared to be a plot line with the French policeman and Roberto which carried right to the end, but again was never really explained as to why this was significant. 2/5