Review of Salvo (2013) by Simon M — 21 Sep 2014

Italian directing duo Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassadonia mark their feature debut with Salvo, a mob thriller more concerned with sensual tactility than machismo and bloodletting. Painted in the dark colours and deep lines of the Renaissance painters, Salvo is a film of imagery and atmosphere, with a minimal plot utilised to knit its more spiritual feelings together. The eponymous Salvo - a mesmerising Saleh Bakri - is a mafia hitman dressed in black and relentless in his cold-blooded pursuit of a target, as an electrifying opening chase sequence testifies. But Salvo is forced to question his life, and very nature, when confronted with Rita (Sara Serraiocco), the partially sighted sister of his latest target.

After navigating around her in a pitch-black house sheltered from the stifling Palermo heat - in a nerve-shredding, single take scene shot intimately over the shoulder - the hired killer mysteriously spares her life and instead chooses to imprison her in a run down outbuilding. Salvo's intentions are left deliberately abstract, but far from sexual he seems more fascinated with the purity and helplessness of this beautiful creature - finding solace in caring for someone who is so far removed from his mortal sins. In a minor, but deeply significant, scene Salvo patches up a bullet wound to his abdomen, and drifts off to sleep - but as the blood swiftly seeps through his crisp white Lacoste polo shirt he is forced to revert to his standard all black attire. Rita may have brought a change upon him, but a dark past is not so swiftly forgotten.

Predominantly a film of the visual, much of the credit for its success falls with cinematographer Daniele Ciprì, whose colour palette and shadows bring the experience to life with an expressive, palpable texture. The heat is oppressive, the dark is claustrophobic and Salvo' s bright eyes pierce through it all. Bereft of much dialogue it's these sensory interactions that tell the story. While this is the film at its most lyrical, there is a tinge of disappointment that the initial surge of adrenaline - and more generic elements - are not expanded upon. Piazza and Grassadonia have steered consciously clear of making the traditional reformed hitman movie, but on this evidence their talent for action deserves further expansion.

Centred on a laconic, but captivating Bakri, his stony face forms the film's lasting image. Required to do little more than brood and stare he is nevertheless able to shape this into a performance as intriguing as the expertly captured photography. With the themes of vision and morals enthusiastically toyed with throughout, Salvo is a film to become lost in, as the odd relationship between captor and captive works to an unpredictable conclusion - and, perhaps most impressively, shuns the more obvious melodramatics. A stylish and considered drama, Salvo may reveal itself as partially shallow if inspected too deeply but, for the atmospheric journey it takes us on, the Italian debutants deserve the highest of praise.