From Radiance Films, fans of the Italian crime cinema sub-genre will adore what this three disc box set has for fans, as “Cosa Nostra” features three key films from director Damiano Damiani and film icon Franco Nero. Included is “The Day of the Owl” with Franco Nero as a police chief who, while investigating the death of a construction worker, goes up against corrupt officials and a ruthless mafia boss (Lee J. Cobb). “The Day of the Owl” is adapted from the novel by Leonardo Sciascia; The Day of the Owl was the first book to openly deal with organized crime in Sicily.
“The Day of the Owl” was nominated for best film at the Berlin Film Festival and at home won David di Donatello Awards for stars Nero and Claudia Cardinale, along with Damiani, and Best Film. In “The Case is Closed: Forget It” Franco Nero stars again as an architect thrown in jail for a misdemeanor in. Inside, he sees the grim reality of life behind bars, faced with corrupt guards and a prison yard ruled by the mafia. Director Damiano Damiani continues his exploration of mafia stories with what is a considerably gritty prison, and bleak drama. Nero is very good with support by actors including Riccardo Cucciola as another innocent and John Steiner, respectively.
Inspired by real-life events, in “How to Kill a Judge,” Franco Nero plays filmmaker Giacomo Solaris, whose latest film features a judge corrupted by the mafia and who is later killed. The real judge the character is based on seizes the film but is later found murdered. Guilt stricken, Solaris investigates through his police and mafia advisors, but as the assassinations increase around him, will he reach the source of the conspiracy? Damanios’ third film is filled with interesting twists and a fascinating meta-commentary on cinema. Damiano finishes his trilogy with this turning of the camera on himself and how he derives inspiration from crime and corruption to help inspire his art.
The package for “Cosa Nostras” has reversible sleeves featuring designs based on original posters for each film plus a limited edition 120-page liner notes book featuring new and archival writing on the films by experts on the genre including Andrew Nette on Leonardo Sciascia’s The Day of the Owl; Piero Garofalo on The Case is Closed: Forget It; Paul A. J. Lewis on depictions of the mafia in each of the films within this set. There’s Shelley O’Brien on each of the scores; there’s a newly translated archival interview with Damiani, Nathaniel Thompson on Franco Nero, Marco Natoli on Damiani’s place within the cinema politico movement in Italian cinema, and a critical overview for each the films by Cullen Gallagher and credits for each film.
The Radiance Films Blu-ray provides a ton of bells and whistles but no real commentaries. On The Day of the Owl Blu-ray there is a new seveteen minutes interview with star Franco Nero, featuring archive footage of Damiano Damiani and Leonardo Sciascia discussing The Day of the Owl. There is also a twenty six minutes archival interview with Franco Nero, writer Ugo Pirro and production manager Lucio Trentini discussing the making of the film from 2006. There’s also the twenty two minutes archival interview with Claudia Cardinale from 2017 Belgian TV in which she discusses her long and storied career.
Identity Crime-Sis from 2022 is twenty minutes has filmmaker and Italian crime cinema expert Mike Malloy discussing The Day of the Owl in the context of the formation of the Italian crime film genre. Casting Cobb: A Tale of Two Continents is a new thirty minutes video essay by Howard S. Berger who takes a look at actor Lee J. Cobb’s career transition from ‘Hollywood to Italy’ and the archetypes he tended to play on screen for a majority of his career. Lastly is a trailer for The Day of the Owl. On the The Case is Closed: Forget It Blu-ray there are forty five minutes of new interviews with star Franco Nero discussing The Case is Closed: Forget It from 2022.
There is a thirty minutes archival documentary on the making of The Case is Closed: Forget It featuring actor Corrado Solari, assistant director Enrique Bergier and editor Antonio Siciliano from 2015 as they share their recollections on the production aspect of the film. Italy’s Cinematic Civil Conscience: An Examination of the Life and Works of Damiano Damiani is a new thirty five minutes visual essay on the career of Damiani Damiani by Rachael Nisbet, film critic and co-host of the Fragments Of Fear Giallo Podcast. Finally, there’s a trailer for The Case is Closed: Forget It.
On the How to Kill a Judge disc there is another new, thirteen minutes interview with star Franco Nero discussing How to Kill a Judge where he recalls specifics on the production. Lessons in Violence is a new twenty minutes video essay on How to Kill a Judge by filmmaker David Cairns who looks at Damiani’s unique approach to filmmaking. There is also a new thirty minutes interview with Alberto Pezzotta, author of Regia Damiano Damiani, who discusses Damiani’s contribution to the mafia and crime genres and the reception of his films in Italy from 2022. Finally, featured is both an English and Italian trailer for the film.