Two decades after faking his death and disappearing from Naples, onetime hit man Rosario has earned all the rewards of a simple life in rural Germany. He has a lovely young wife, a new son, and a gratifying job as the proprietor of a restaurant and hotel. Then a young Italian man arrives in town on a mysterious mission with his hot-headed buddy in tow. When they're in need of a place to stay, it's not long before they arrive at Rosario's doorstep, and quickly the past comes flooding back.

A richly textured performance from the great Toni Servillo (Il Divo, Gomorrah) anchors this slow-burn dramatic thriller, a brilliant addition to the new school of sophisticated Italian crime films that focus more on character than action. Behind Rosario's mild-mannered façade, glimpses of an ingrained, inescapable violence seep out even before the Napolitani show up. Director Claudio Cupellini—never once resorting to hysterical "mob movie" clichés—orchestrates a subtle, accelerating suspense around Servillo's role as a conflicted family man whose attempts to protect those he loves the most invite only more pain.

Claudio Cupellini and Claudio Cupellini