Oct 28th     
In the Hand of Dante*       
(Ita/US 2025)      
Netflix/Twin Pictures/MeMo Films/Art Official Productions. 153m. bw/colour

A New York writer, infused with the soul of Dante, is informed by gangsters that there is a surviving manuscript of his Divine Comedy.
An eagerly awaited but ultimately pretentious drama, photographed mostly in present-day black-and-white for no good reason. A little more of the spirit of Dante might have helped than the general tone of unpleasant gangster melodrama. A moving early cameo by Pacino, then the rest is all downhill: the presence of other stars from recent blockbusters did not make it a commercial property. 

Written by: Julian Schnabel, Louise Kugelberg, from the novel by Nick Tosches.
Producers: Jon Kilik, Francesco Melzi d'Eril, Olma Schnabel, Gabriele Bebe Moratti, Bito Schnabel, Julian Schnabel.
Director: Julian Schnabel.
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Al Pacino, Gerard Butler, Gal Gadot, John Malkovich, Louis Cancelmi, Jason Momoa, Sabrina Impacciatore, Martin Scorsese (as Isaiah), Franco Nero, Benjamin Clementine.
Photography: Roman Varyanov.
Music: Benjamin Clementine.
Editing: Marco Spoletini, Louise Kugelberg. 

+ a total of 39 additional Executive Producers are credited