Rocco (Peppino Mazzotta) and his brother, Luigi (Marco Leonardi), both live in Milan and take part in the family crime business: drug-dealing. Their eldest brother, Luciano (Fabrizio Ferracane), tends to the family's idyllic farm while refusing to join the drug ring. Luciano's rebellious son, Leo (Giuseppe Fumo), prefers otherwise after he shoots up a local bar and runs off to Milan to live with his uncle Rocco. Leo becomes the catalyst for a series of events that lead his family to seek revenge against another family for the murder of his grandfather.

      Writer/director Francesco Munzi together with co-writers Fabrizio Ruggirello Maurizio Braucci combine drama, suspense and thrills in a way that's intelligent, grounded in humanism and consistently grim. The film doesn't rely on violence or plot twists as a means of entertainment or shock value. Instead, what carries the film is its complex, flawed characters and its foreboding atmosphere that keeps you captivated on an emotional level. The suspense and thrills aren't like the ones you see in Hollywood at all: they're more of a slow-burn. You'll probably know what to expect, but, as Hitchcock once famously stated, suspense derives from the anticipation of a gun that's soon to be fired. While the plot and characters themselves seem like well-treaded territory, it's much more important how the director has chosen to tell the story in an old-fashioned way that respects smart, patient and sophisticated audiences.

      Wisely, director Francesco Munzi knows when to trust the audience's intelligence, imagination and patience. Yes, the pace is slow and the meat of the story takes a while to unfold after the first act, but it helps to keep you absorbed gradually without hitting you over the head and assaulting your senses like most Hollywood directors like to do. Munzi leaves certain events up to your imagination, i.e. the murder of the three brothers' father, and avoids using flashbacks. The performances from everyone seem believable and well-nuanced---none of them over-act nor can you feel the wheels of their performances turning, so the film's sense of authenticity and realism always remains intact, even when the action kicks further into gear during the third act. If you're looking for an intelligent, atmospheric, slow-burning crime drama that's anti-Hollywood, Black Souls won't disappoint you.