Living Blood

A pedestrian story about two grown brothers in a village in Puglia, southern Italy. One has financial troubles and gets in hock to the local Mafia boss; the other is addicted to drugs. The treatment is also straightforward and naturalistic. But writer/director Winspeare has a trick up his sleeve. Zimba and Probo are real-life musicians (they play the local folk music, La Pizzica), and at about the one hour mark, the movie stops while Pino and his band play an open air concert. And they're tremendous. The passion and excitement of the music flesh out the rest of the still predictable story, to the point where the ending is even quite moving.