90
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
The movie is at once a giddy mixture of farce, satire and opera buffa and a closely observed drama of social dislocation and cultural confusion.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
90
The New Yorker by Anthony Lane
Filmed in a hot and bleached black-and-white, it manages to swerve from culture-clashing farce to alarming suspense without losing control.
80
New York Magazine (Vulture) by David Edelstein
That's the beauty of Mafioso: that what begins as a comedy of disconnection becomes a tragicomedy of connection -- of roots that go deep and branches that span continents.
80
Alberto Lattuada's tricky-to-parse Mafioso dates from 1962 but, with its abrupt tonal shifts and disturbing existential premise, this nearly forgotten dark comedy could be the most modern (or at least modernist) movie in town.
100
A small comic masterpiece that dares to deal with that of which many Sicilians dare not speak: the Mafia.
100
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
A magnificent film almost no one knows about, this hidden classic offers a wider variety of pleasures than most contemporary works can even aspire to.
91
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
Mafioso does more than cast its fascinating shadow over "The Godfather." It captures, in a stark yet haunting way, the indelible fact that no man is born a mobster.
91
Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer
It's a marvelous performance in a marvelous movie, one that sneaks up on you while you're watching it.
90
Sordi is an elegant comic actor in the vein of America's William Powell; the world may confound him, but it can never rumple him.
75
Mafioso starts out as a comedy of manners before turning into a mob thriller that brings Nino to Bergen County, N.J. When he gets there, look for a man reading The Post on a street corner.
Alberto Lattuada's Sicilian mafia film is at once hilarious and heartbreaking. Beginning as a comedy about a man returning home to a place he has somewhat outgrown, the film shifts into darker narratives, exploring the consequences of violence and old promises. Alberto Sordi gives a fantastic performance as Antonio as he masterfully balances the lines between humor and fear.
One of those movies I think about all the time. Equal parts gut wrenching and gut busting, this is one of those movies that just sticks with you after you watch it. Alberto Sordi is, in my opinion, at his best when he's balancing drama and comedy in equal measure, instead of only relying on silliness and slapstick, and along with his work with Fellini, Mafioso has to be one of the prime examples of his mastery of the balance of humor with tragedy. This also functions excellently as a send up and critique of macho Sicilian culture, adding yet another level to this remarkable film.