Martin Scorsese
Casinò

Almost three hours of film and not feeling it. Scorsese-De Niro=guarantee. If we then add the most irreverent gangster of all, Joe Pesci, who won the Oscar for "Goodfellas," the picture is complete. Certainly a decidedly mannerist picture, but of monstrously high quality.

Perhaps Martin Scorsese's best work in those blessed 90s.

From an impeccable screenplay by Nicholas Pileggi and the director himself; "Casino" turns out to be a journey into 70s/80s Las Vegas, where gambling was almost a second religion and crime had its long hands everywhere. A world of splendor, power, and decadence, a violent and corrupt world, where trust and friendship (and even love) do not exist. Only a relentless pursuit of wealth (a new gold rush). Strictly materialistic rules prevail here. Having, possessing, enriching oneself are the three commandments to succeed to (survive).

The film follows the intertwined affairs of Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro) and Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), who are also the two first-person narrators of the entire story. The first, a chronic gambler caught by justice several times, will be tasked with managing a casino on behalf of a mafia organization, aiming to make it the best in the most scrupulous way possible. The second, a "little godfather" sent from Kansas City to cover Sam's back, will soon be tempted by the financial opportunities offered by the city, until he sinks into a senseless and paroxysmal pursuit of "easy" money.

Scorsese does his dirty work with great mastery, once again confirming himself as one of the best living directors. Worthy of praise, moreover, are the cinematography, simply spectacular, and the excellent editing.

The characterizations are among the best ever, and even a mediocre actress like Sharon Stone is believable, indeed, even perfect, in the role of the self-destructive Ginger, a femme fatale who will become Sam's wife. Ginger is precisely the personification, but at the same time the victim, of Las Vegas and the lust for money: beautiful, contagious, whore, ravenous, insatiable... destined to tear herself apart with her own hands.

"Casino" is this. A story of selfishness and betrayal, showing the most corrupt side of man and his boundless love for what, in the end, is nothing.

A film that depicts man as a beast caged in a plastic world. A world specifically created to squeeze us to the marrow and bring out our most disgustingly true side.