“CRIME NEVER DIES” by Frances Sapphire

“CRIME NEVER DIES” is a story of deception, greed and revenge that leaves viewers breathless. The film, which lasts about twenty minutes, runs through our body like a violent shock, destined to dissipate only long after viewing. But Frances Sapphire, screenwriter and director of this small independent pearl, is very good at calibrating the most frenetic moments with long constructions of suspense. When the action explodes, it always finds us unprepared, amazed and involved, as only the best thrillers can do. The film fits into the frame of genre cinema, but the author manages to rework the archetypes in an extremely personal way. In fact, the film immerses us in a murky story between narrow streets and narrow spaces that the director obviously knows well. The camera therefore does not only tell a story, but reveals a world, created and modeled by the imagination of a true author, who does not just shoot a film but gives us a real vision. The dialogues are sharp, raw and quick and help to create the feeling of a hostile world, where every time you negotiate your survival against any external force.

This criminal “underworld” that Sapphire tells us is a world made of games of power, of dominations, in which only the law of the fittest is valid. In this Darwinian world, women occupy a prominent position and often also fight another battle, the one against male bullying. At the end of the film, in an escalation of twists, there are no losers or winners, but lone wolves that once again managed to survive. Sapphire tells all this with a mature, intelligent and calm gaze, avoiding baroque virtuosity that could have weighed down the agile frenzy that runs throughout history. The shades of cinematography return images of a gloomy metropolitan world, polluted by men’s ambitions in all senses. The actors and actresses embellish the film and are the culmination of a well-designed and realized cinematic vision. A small jewel.