The Past is a Foreign Land (Il passato è una terra straniera)

Based on a best-selling novel by Gianrico Carofiglio, this is a compulsive thriller about the dangerous relationship that begins between a young law student, Giorgio and an unscrupulous card shark, Francesco. Initially, the pair team up to play poker and make extra money but gradually they move into deeper criminality, rigging all their games and, as the money gets bigger, their lifestyle becomes more outlandish and the opportunity for bigger scams appears. As the prospect of drug dealing opens up, Giorgio becomes more and more estranged from his comfortable middle-class family and Francesco begins to reveal a darker, much more disturbed, violent side to his personality.

Giorgio, played brilliantly by Elio Germano (one of Italy's top actors, as seen last in My Brother is an Only Child) is matched, scene for scene, by the wonderful, if relative newcomer, Michele Riondino as Francesco and it is their relationship which lifts this intriguing story into something special. Directed with skill and aplomb by Daniele Vicari (whose film Maximum Velocity made an impact when selected by the Venice Film Festival in 2002). The Past is a Foreign Land is a clever example of very effective crime fiction.
Adrian Wootton