Mafia Inc.

Montreal, 1994. Quebec director Daniel Grou, better known as Podz and the man behind '7 Days' and several episodes of 'Vikings', takes on the Sicilian Mafia in Quebec, working from the nonfiction book in which journalists André Cédilot and André Noël traced its history. Sylvain Guy's script keeps the world and invents the story, one about two families bound together for decades.

The Gamaches have spent three generations tailoring suits for the Paternòs. Vince (Marc-André Grondin), son of the tailor Henri (Gilbert Sicotte), crossed to the other side of the counter as a teenager and is now one of godfather Frank Paternò's (Sergio Castellitto) most trusted men, which drives Frank's eldest son Giaco mad. Vince's sister Sofie (Mylène Mackay), an MBA student, is engaged to Patrizio, the boss's younger son.

Frank has a big play in mind: putting together the consortium that'll build a bridge between Sicily and Calabria, a way to launder the family fortune that needs $180 million up front. Meanwhile Vince sets up a drug shipment from Venezuela on his own and earns a promotion for it. What nobody knows yet is the monstrous price of that job, and once it comes out the two families are on the brink of war.

'Mafia Inc.' was shot over 37 days in Montreal and Cuba at the end of 2018 on about C$8.5 million, premiered at the São Paulo festival and opened in Quebec in February 2020. Castellitto, who'd never played a gangster before and would later be a cardinal in 'Conclave', won the Iris for best supporting actor, and Grondin, the star of 'C.R.A.Z.Y.', was nominated for best actor at the Canadian Screen Awards.

Reviews were good, praising its old-school gangster feel, the cast and dialogue that switches between French, English and Italian, though some found it overlong. It arrived on UK digital platforms in October 2020 with an 18 certificate, and in the US through Film Movement in February 2021.

• Crime
• Drama