Iddu (Sicilian Letters) Review: Coded Crime Caper

Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza’s Iddu (Sicilian Letters) is a fun enough crime drama that suffers from feeling like only a part of a larger story.

“Somewhere in Sicily” in the early 2000s, mafioso Matteo (Elio Germano, of America Latina) is evading police capture, living in a windowless room hidden behind a bookcase, in the home of Lucia (Barbora Bobulova). Catello (Toni Servillo, of The Hand of God), a corrupt politician freshly released from prison, is approached by a team of investigators to lure Matteo out of hiding by writing him a letter, offering his condolences on the recent loss of his father. Miraculously, it seems to work, and the pair quickly begin corresponding, but Catello might have jumped back into the criminal fold a little too deeply.

The titular ‘Sicilian letters’ were an intricate series of clandestine coded messages that allowed Matteo to continue his various criminal enterprises, even whilst living on-the-run. Iddu uses them as a handy short-hand way of delivering important information and backstory, through the often comical scenes of characters dictating and typing out these single-page letters. Grassadonia and Piazza make a point to avoid overusing the gimmick by throwing in some fantasy and flashback sequences, as well as a little bit of individual drama, to make things about more than just Matteo’s mail.

And the cast of characters are an enjoyable enough bunch to spend time with. Servillo is great as the beleaguered and reluctant informant being thrust back into the thick of it, all whilst trying to appease the family he abandoned in handcuffs. Daniela Marra, as dogged investigator Rita desperate to catch Matteo this time, gets some of the film’s most poignant moments. Giuseppe Tantillo is the source of a lot of the film’s comedy as Servillo’s hapless – and quite unexpected – son in law, as is Antonia Truppo as Matteo’s overly intense older sister Stefania. And Germano is good but ultimately underused as Matteo, left to brood ominously behind a pair of aviator glasses for a lot of the time.

But even if the characters work, the rest of the film suffers a little in comparison. The main problem is that Iddu feels too much like only a part of something, a mere piece of a much larger story. Matteo successfully avoided capture up until 2023, and the film isn’t out to rewrite history, but its very nature sets audiences up to expect an exciting ending that doesn’t ever come. It’s engaging and fun pretty consistently throughout, but there’s just something missing.

And it’s a shame, because both Matteo’s life on the run and the letters themselves feel ripe for interpretation, but it doesn’t feel as though Grassadonia and Piazza have accomplished the feat they could have with that starting point. Iddu is an enjoyable and entertaining enough watch, it just also feels a little lacklustre at the end there. 

Iddu (Sicilian Letters) had its World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 5, 2024. Read our review of Neo Sora’s Happyend!