Into the Labyrinth – L’uomo del labirinto (2019)

Directed by: Donato Carrisi | 130 minutes | horror, thriller | Actors: Dustin Hoffman, Tony Servillo, Valentina Bellè, Vinicio Marchioni, Katsiaryna Shulha, Orlando Cinque, Filippo Dini, Sergio Grossini, Carla Cassola, Luis Gnecco, Stefano Rossi Giordani, Riccardo Cicogna, Sergio Leone, Marta Paola Richeldi, Diego Facciotti

A young woman is found naked and unconscious on the edge of a swamp. In the hospital it turns out that it is Samantha Andretti, a girl who was kidnapped fifteen years earlier, when she was only thirteen years old. The woman is seriously confused and suffering from amnesia. Psychologist and profiler Dr. Green has the challenging task of finding out exactly what happened.

Samantha remembers being held all along in an underground labyrinth, a mysterious place where the kidnapper had her solve riddles and play perverse games. The second storyline focuses on the private detective Bruno Genko, a man who has not long to live. At the time of the kidnapping, he was hired by Samantha’s parents to find their daughter. Samantha’s parents have since passed away, but the contract is still valid in Genko’s eyes. Moreover, the man sees finding out the truth about Samantha’s kidnapping as his last life task.

‘Into the Labyrinth’ is the film adaptation of the book of the same name by Donato Carrisi, a celebrated Italian crime writer who also played the role of director and screenwriter on this film project. The viewer experiences the story mainly through the eyes of detective Genko, who is engaged in what is probably the last investigation of his life. He records his findings, emotions and experiences on a classic cassette tape.

Certainly for fans of the work of directors such as David Fincher and David Lynch there is quite a bit to enjoy in ‘Into the Labyrinth’. The dark narrative tone, surreal elements, quirky characters, social fringes and the overriding sense of general gloom create an atmosphere well suited for a bleak crime thriller of this type. The prominent use of red and black, in particular, creates a morbid backdrop that complements the ominous script. The rabbit mask with the fiery red glowing eyes that the unknown kidnapper regularly wears immediately makes this character an enormously uncanny appearance.

Unfortunately, the narrative elaboration leaves something to be desired on several points. The plot is promising, but at times suffers from an unbalanced combination of predictability and muddle. Some plot twists are head-turners for the seasoned genre adept (especially if he or she has experience watching Fincher and Lynch movies), while the intertwining of different storylines and the large number of flashbacks and flashforwards can be confusing at times. then enriching. The dividing line between reality and imagination is wafer thin, so as a viewer you have to constantly pay attention to subtle signals and minuscule details. An approach that sometimes works, but has regularly been better implemented in the past.

As far as the acting is concerned, it is mainly Toni Servillo who impresses as Bruno Genko, the almost shy and in the twilight of his life who wants to go the extra mile to do justice. The biggest name is without a doubt Dustin Hoffman, who as the only non-Italian character is an odd one out in this print. Hoffman is trusted solid, but no more than that. You have the impression that a good Italian actor would not have done much worse.

‘Into the Labyrinth’ is certainly not a piece of shit, but it doesn’t quite live up to its promise either. At times the film is just a bit too incoherent for that. The plot twists are not bad, but certainly not so good and surprising that they push this movie to a really high level. A decent thriller, but that’s about it.