Radiance Blu-ray Film Review

Tony Arzenta (1973) • Limited Edition Blu-ray [Radiance] — a superior Euro-thriller full of excitement

A mob hitman wants to retire, but his bosses don’t think that’s a good idea…

The pre-title vignette establishes an unremarkable domestic setting for Tony Arzenta (Alain Delon) and his family. Their chic, design-conscious, and comfortably middle-class apartment is the venue for his young son’s birthday party. Yet Tony seems distracted and detached, checking his watch. Before leaving, he rather ominously says to the boy, “Happy birthday, young man, and may you have many, many more…” Perhaps it’s Delon’s shrewdly economical performance or the fact we’re watching an early-1970s Italian crime thriller, but within minutes, we’re already searching for clues and trying to guess what’s amiss.

So, I was already hooked by the time the evocative strains of Gianni Ferrio’s title song, “L’appuntamento” (The Appointment), with vocals by Ornella Vanoni, came in over the gorgeously shot night-driving opening credits. Here, we have a meeting of superior Italian cinematic…