Director: Damiano Damiani
Screenplay: Nicola Badalucco, Damiano Damiani
Starring: Giuliano Gemma, Eleonora Giorgi, Michele Placido, Tano Cimarosa, Ettore Manni, Luciano Catenacci, Fabrizio Forte
Country: Italy
Running Time: 110 min
Year: 1979
BBFC Certificate: TBC
I mentioned in my recent review for Tokijiro: Lone Yakuza that Radiance Films were on a mission to make Tai Katô better known in the West but he isn’t the only director whose filmography they’ve been mining to build their increasingly illustrious collection. Another figure they’ve been championing is Damiano Damiani, an Italian director to whom Radiance have devoted a boxset (the excellent Cosa Nostra set I reviewed here), as well as releasing his tense thriller Goodbye & Amen.
Radiance are following these up with another of Damiani’s crime thrillers, 1979’s A Man on His Knees. I’ve thought very highly of every film I’ve seen from the director (including his superb western A Bullet for the General on top of the Radiance titles mentioned), so it didn’t take much to convince me to pick up a copy of this. My thoughts follow.
In A Man on His Knees, Giuliano Gemma plays Nino Peralta, a former car thief who’s trying to go straight, running a small drinks stand in Palermo. His new life is threatened, however, when he becomes a target for a known mafia hitman, Platamonte (Michele Placido).
Nino confronts the killer, to find out why his life is in danger. Platamonte offers to help but, in fact, ends up exploiting his target, getting Nino in even greater trouble with the mafioso pulling the strings.
As the body count rises, Nino uncovers a complex web of corruption and deceit linked to the kidnapping of a wealthy woman. Innocent but caught in a deadly game, he must race against time to identify the mastermind behind the assassinations and clear his name before he becomes the next victim.
Well, I said I’d enjoyed all of Damiani’s films I’d seen so far and now I’m starting to think he might be one of my favourite Italian directors. A Man on His Knees might be the best I’ve seen so far too (though I’m a big fan of A Bullet for a General).
A Man on His Knees is a tense and deeply engrossing film that offers powerful drama, socially-conscious themes and even some genre thrills. You’re thrown straight into the world from the credits, which run over the opening scene, and it’s impossible to tear your eyes from the screen from that moment on.
One of the film’s great strengths is its depth of character and, in particular, the relationships between them. There are several key pairings that are richly explored. For one, there’s the ever-shifting dynamic between Nino and Platamonte, then you get the deep friendship between Nino and his old friend, Colicchia (Tano Cimarosa), the beautifully realised relationship between Nino and his young son (Fabrizio Forte) and finally that between Nino and his wife, Lucia (Eleonora Giorgi). The latter seems a little underwritten to begin with but her character evolves and grows in importance as the film moves on.
The strength of these characters is aided by some superb performances. Giuliano Gemma was then known largely as an action star who was prolific in the western genre, in particular. Damiani saw something in him though and gave him a chance to shine as the lead in this crime thriller. He does a fantastic job, perfectly capturing the desperation of his character. Michele Placido wasn’t particularly famous at the time either but easily matches Gemma on screen as the conniving Platamonte. The actor later became a highly respected director and has repeatedly stated that Damiani was one of his biggest influences, alongside Marco Bellocchio.
Reportedly, Damiani strove to emulate American styles of acting that leaned towards more naturalistic performances than the broader styles popular in Italy at the time. He put the cast through extensive rehearsals to bring this out. Damiani often mixed untrained actors with more famous cast members too and it’s a testament to his skill that it’s hard to tell who’s experienced and who is not, on screen.
The film has a great energy too, with plenty of movement, either of the camera or of characters within the frame. This helps Palermo come across as a living, breathing city on screen. Damiani wanted to avoid the ‘tourist view’ of Sicily, shooting in the poorer areas of Palermo and having his bleak finale take place on a foggy hillside rather than the typical sunbleached views of the island.
Damiano made socially conscious films but ones that fit into genre moulds, to make them easier to digest for your average audience member. This is no different, with this tense thriller showing the mafia to be pitting the poor against each other, rather than dwelling on their control over any higher powers. It’s a potent view of the stranglehold the organisation seemingly had over people in Sicily at the time.
All-in-all, I was hugely impressed by A Man on His Knees. With strong characters and a suitably naturalistic yet energetic style, it’s a superb piece of storytelling that grips from the offset and never lets go.
Film: 
A Man on His Knees is out on 23rd September on region A&B Blu-Ray, released by Radiance Films. The transfer looks great, with natural textures and colours throughout. It’s a clean print too. I only noticed any damage in one scene. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of how it looks, though these have been compressed. The audio is strong too.
FEATURES
– New 4K restoration from the original negative
– Uncompressed mono PCM audio
– Archival interviews with stars Giuliano Gemma, Tano Cimarosa and assistant director Mino Giarda
– New interview with Alberto Pezzotta, author of Regia Damiano Damiani
– Trailer
– Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Filippo Di Battista
– Booklet featuring new writing by Roberto Curti
– Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
Tano Cimarosa worked with Damiani on many films and, in an 8-minute interview included here, talks about how this relationship began and what the director was like to work with.
Star Giuliano Gemma also describes his experiences of working on the film in his 8-minute interview. He has a funny story to tell about how shooting in an actual drinks stand on location would result in passersby asking him for drinks! He also describes how they’d get little ‘street audiences’ watching the shoot and applauding good performances.
Assistant director Mino Giarda is also interviewed. His is a lengthier piece than the other two archival interviews, running around 20 minutes. He also discusses his background and work with Damiani. He has an amusing little story to tell about working with Betty Davis and also a frightening one about his run-ins with the mafia when working on Damiani’s Day of the Owl. Make sure you watch to the very end of this interview, as there’s a nice little bonus after the credits.
Finally, there’s a new extra, in the form of an interview with Alberto Pezzotta. This is around 24 minutes long and, in it, the author discusses how A Man on His Knees sits among the crime films of Damiani. He talks about how the film marks the end of an era, so to speak, when Italian cinema began to struggle against television and many directors, including Damiani, jumped ship for that format. It’s a valuable addition to the set.
I didn’t receive a copy of the booklet to comment on that.
Overall, Radiance have put together an excellent package for yet another superb film from Damiano Damiani. Highly recommended.
Disc/package: 
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