De Niro a natural mafioso
There is a good chance Robert De Niro lived the mafia lifestyle in his previous life.
Maybe, the 76-year-old Italian-American colluded with the feds as a youngster and is now hiding in plain sight under a witness protection programme of some sort.
I would not be shocked if one day, many moons from now, the famed actor writes a tell-all best-seller in which he confesses to his past crimes.
He will probably be telling us that he took up roles in films like “The Godfather Part 2” (1974),“The Good fell as ”(1990),“A Bronx Tale” (1993),“The Untouchables”(1987) and most recently “The Irishman” (2019) as a running gag and an outlet to re-live his former life. Why do I think so?
I refuse to accept that one person can be that good at portraying a role over and over again.
With more time created by the ongoing lockdown, I bumped into a mafiastyle movie that, while not necessarily in the same bracket with the aforesaid flicks, deserves a second look.
This is none other than “The Family” (2013).
Co-written and directed by Luc Benson, “The Family”tells the story of a mafia family under witness protection.
While eager to change their lives, they unfortunately find themselves falling back into old habits.
Upon surviving a hit on his family, mafia boss Giovanni Manzoni (De Niro) decides to co-operate with the FBI and sends rival
Don Luchese to prison.
Fearing for his life and that of his family, the Manzoni family are given new identities and enter witness protection under the supervision of Agent Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones), where they are relocated to a small town in Normandy, France.
The problem with the witness protection is that the family, which includes Giovanni, his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and two kids — Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D’Leo) — simply refuse to let go of their former life and believe violence is the solution to every problem.
The FBI agent now has to contend with Warren running a drug and cheat business at school, Belle beating up a group of boys that try make a move on her during her first day at school.
Not to be outdone is their mother blowing up a convenience store when she overhears them gossiping about her and Giovanni, who almost cripples a plumber that tries to short-change him.
There are so many reasons why this flick is near-perfect, chief among them being the star power and performance that De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer bring to this lowbudget flick.
De Niro, as the quintessential mafia boss, carries the cadence and performance required for the role.
The guy hardly puts a foot wrong, as his Italian roots shine throughout.
The rest of the cast put up noteworthy performances, with special mention going to the duo of Argon and D’Leo as the sadistic Manzoni siblings.
Director and co-writer Besson deserves all the praise for helping write the dialogue and marshal this quaint little mafia-inspired black comedy.