In the Hand of Dante (2025)

In 1998, a struggling writer [Oscar Isaac] is forced by a ruthless gangster [Gerard Butler] to assist in a bloody search for the handwritten manuscript of Dante's The Divine Comedy. Schnabel intertwines that story with that of Dante [Oscar Isaac], who falls for Gemma [Gal Gadot] in 1303 and thus finds the inspiration for his masterpiece. Gerard Butler appears in this film as Pope Boniface VIII. There are supporting roles for Al Pacino, John Malkovich, and Martin Scorsese, among others, in this beautifully filmed and superbly acted blend of historical melodrama and crime thriller by the visual artist Schnabel. It sometimes gets bogged down in dialogue and is not without pretentious moments, but anyone who loves idiosyncratic, intellectual cinema will be perfectly satisfied. Based on Nick Tosche's equally challenging novel.

Translated from Dutch · View original

Finally, a truly interesting film again. One you can watch ten times in a row and still feel like you weren't paying close enough attention. Full of details and nuances that make you go back to your textbooks, that make you want to rewatch the Godfather series, that make you look up the books. That makes you want to read the book the film was based on.

The cast is brilliant and is also appropriately directed; Schnabel gives notorious overactors like Malkovich and Pacino no chance, nor does he let them fall into their hackneyed mannerisms—that alone deserves all praise, for what director can say that? The double roles of Isaac and Butler also work perfectly for me, and it works beautifully to portray the present in modern, brutally harsh, and sharp black-and-white, and the past in saturated colors with a grainy effect. I did have to get used to Gal Gadot for a moment, but after a few days of reflection, her role fits as well.

That’s all for now; I’d better look up the book first, and then take another look. That’s the kind of movie this is.

Translated from Dutch · View original