In “ Tired of Killing. Autobiography of an Assassin ” [“Ammazzare stanca. Autobiografia di un assassino”], Italian director Daniele Vicari reaches for the explosive autobiography by the late Antonio Zagari, former assassin for the Calabrian criminal syndicate ‘Ndrangheta.

“It surprised me that this uncultured, ignorant man came to a more important conclusion than all the intellectuals, philosophers, journalists or directors. The moment you kill someone you also kill yourself,” he tells Variety ahead of the film’s premiere in Venice.

Vicari discovered Zagari’s book many years ago.

“I mention it’s an ‘Autobiography of an Assassin’ because that’s what he says to himself: ‘I am a murderer.’ It’s his problem, the problem that has defined his entire life. [In the book] he looked at hi

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