Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Romulus and Remus, two shepherds and loyal brothers, end up taking part to a journey that will lead one of them to be the founder of the greatest nation ever seen. However, the fate of the chosen one will pass from killing his own brother.
The First King (Il primo re) is a visually striking, gritty retelling of the Romulus and Remus myth, shot in the ancient Proto-Latin language for authenticity. Its cinematography by Michele D'Attanasio is genuinely exceptional — raw, immersive, and mud-soaked in a way that evokes early cinema verité merged with epic scale. The plot follows the familiar mythological arc and doesn't deviate dramatically from the known legend, keeping it serviceable but not revelatory. The acting from Alessandro Borghi and Alessio Lapice is committed and physical, carrying emotional weight despite minimal dialogue, though it doesn't reach transcendent heights. The ending is largely predetermined by myth, which undercuts dramatic tension even as it's executed with conviction. Novelty is moderate — the linguistic and aesthetic approach is distinctive, but the foundational story is one of antiquity's most well-known.