Film

Suburra

Name: Suburra
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Released: 2015
Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino, Claudio Amendola, Alessandro Borghi, Elio Germano, Greta Scarano

Gangster

A Roman crime saga about competing factions fighting for control of the city's underworld, with an ambitious gangster trying to reshape the waterfront into a gambling empire. It's violent, labyrinthine, and committed to the textures of its world—less interested in plot clarity than in the weight of greed and consequence. For anyone drawn to gritty European crime cinema.

TMDb rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like crime stories where the power plays are tangled and slow-burning, with morally compromised men circling each other in a city that feels like a character itself.

Skip it if you want a clean, fast plot with clear heroes; this one is dense with overlapping characters and shifting alliances, and it takes real effort to keep every player straight.

What it asks of you: It runs a little over two hours and rewards close attention, building its tension through conversations and betrayals rather than constant action, with a grim, rain-soaked tone throughout.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Gomorrah2008

A Neapolitan masterpiece about organized crime's grip on a city. Operates at the same register as Suburra: methodical, unflinching, with a sprawling cast and moral exhaustion woven through every frame.

But Deliberately paced and deeply unsentimental. If you need a clear protagonist to root for, you'll struggle here. The violence is presented without catharsis.

A Prophet2009

A French prison thriller about ambition and power among inmates. Shares Suburra's fascination with how systems corrupt from the inside, and builds toward devastating inevitability with incredible craft.

But Heavy and claustrophobic. The protagonist isn't sympathetic, and the film won't reassure you that intelligence or cunning leads anywhere good.

The Godfather Part II1974

The structural template for any crime saga about power consolidation and the cost of empire. Parallel narratives, historical scope, the slow erosion of morality. Essential watching to understand what Suburra is reaching toward.

But Three hours and forty minutes. The deliberate pacing will feel glacial if you prefer your crime stories punchy and fast.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Suburra

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Crime Novel2005

Both are Roman crime epics made by Italian filmmakers interrogating how the city's underworld operates. Romanzo Criminale shows the deeper historical roots of the power structures Suburra depicts.

An Italian crime saga—literally a *Criminal Novel*—that maps Rome's underworld across decades with the same ambition as Suburra but with a longer historical arc. Shares actors, landscape, and moral exhaustion, but tells a different corner of the same city.

But Even longer and more baroque in its storytelling. Multiple timelines and a larger cast mean it demands more attention than Suburra, and some plot threads are left deliberately unresolved.

City of God2002

A Brazilian favela crime epic told with visual flair and dark humor. Like Suburra, it maps territorial conflict through ensemble storytelling and finds strange beauty in brutal landscapes.

But Densely plotted with many characters introduced quickly. The kinetic style and rapid editing can feel exhausting if you're already adjusting to subtitles.

Wise Guys1986

A Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo mob comedy that somehow captures the same blend of ambition, backstabbing, and low-level criminal desperation as Suburra, just with laughs.

But Dated humor and a far lighter touch than the film you're coming from. The tonal shift might feel jarring.

The Departed2006

Boston crime story about moles, power plays, and the thin line between law enforcement and criminality. Scorsese at his most propulsive, with an ensemble cast and multiple perspectives colliding.

But Faster and more Hollywood than Suburra. If you want realism and grit, this leans more toward entertainment and operatic violence.

In the Mood for Love2000

A complete tonal shift: Wong Kar-wai's melancholic meditation on longing and restraint. Includes Elio Germano's co-star in an understated, hypnotic romantic drama that shows his range.

But Glacially paced, gorgeously abstract, and entirely interior. Not a crime film at all—requires patience and rewards contemplation over narrative momentum.

Scarface1983

The fever dream of ambition and cocaine corruption. Like Suburra, it traces how hunger and opportunity turn someone into a monster, though with maximalist style and operatic excess.

But Bombastic and much more stylized than Suburra. The excess can feel theatrical rather than grounded, and the gender politics haven't aged well.

Donnie Brasco1997

A quieter Pacino-Depp crime film about loyalty and infiltration. Values character detail and moral ambiguity over spectacle, and finds humanity in the margins of criminal life.

But Smaller in scope and less violent than Suburra. Can feel like a character study that forgets to be a thriller.

Spotlight2015

Both films believe that systemic corruption requires ensemble storytelling to expose. Both reject a single hero in favor of showing how systems survive through complicity and inertia.

An American ensemble thriller about investigative journalists uncovering institutional corruption. Shares Suburra's multi-character structure and its fascination with how power protects itself, but in an entirely different register: procedural, serious, deeply moral.

But No violence, no glamour, no darkness—just methodical work and bureaucratic obstruction. If you're drawn to Suburra for its crime world atmosphere, this will feel austere and restrained.

Gozu2003

Both are crime films about power and loyalty, but Gozu suggests that the underworld doesn't operate by logic—it operates by myth and dream. A companion piece for viewers ready to see the genre inverted.

Takashi Miike's surreal yakuza nightmare: a crime film that abandons realism entirely and becomes something hallucinatory and increasingly deranged. Mobster codes and territorial power remain, but filtered through the logic of a fever dream.

But Aggressively weird and sometimes incomprehensible. If you want grounded crime storytelling, this abandons the ground entirely and rewards viewers willing to surrender to strangeness.