A must for fans of upstanding citizenry. In the eyes of the NYPD, Frank Serpico was the scourge of the boys in blue serge, an undercover cop who narced on his crooked cronies. They made a movie about it called Serpico, and it’s clear from this documentary that director Sidney Lumet and star Al Pacino nailed the late-‘60s time period and the celebrated, unbribable cop’s look, respectively. But who needs a stand-in when the real deal’s undercover exploits also served to awaken his inner actor? Writer-director Antonino D’Ambrosio plays into Serpico’s fantasy world by opening the film with a mirror-conversation nod to Raging Bull. This is soon followed by his playing both roles in a restaging of a cop entrapping a hooker. But intercutting clips from the 1973 biopic with a 79-year-old Serpico’s taking a bullet to the face at the hands of a drug dealer was a step too far. The film’s conclusion — the abuse of power remains intact — was anticlimactic at best. Featuring approximately 60 seconds of Pacino’s voice. (2017) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.