There are few films this year as ambitious as director Julian Schnabel’s In the Hand of Dante. Combining manuscript mystery, gangster thriller and spiritual odyssey, the film moves between medieval Italy and the 21st-century criminal underworld in pursuit of questions about creativity, faith, power and redemption.

This film is a big, gutsy gamble. Casting a heavily costumed Martin Scorsese in an acting role with overwrought philosophical dialogue was always going to be a risk. Your enjoyment of it will hinge on your ability to tolerate its tonal dissonance. At various points it functions as a black comedy, an earnest exploration of art and its creation, a spiritual romance and a gangster thriller. Schnabel appears determined to make all four at once.

Adapted from Nick Tosches’ cult novel, of the same name, Schnabel’s sprawling literary crime drama attempts to bridge centuries and genres. At the centre of the story lies a discovered manuscript of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, passed through the hands of collectors, academics and gangsters.

High culture and organised crime

Oscar Isaac occupies two time lines here: playing both novelist Nick Tosches in 2001 and Dante himself in medieval Italy. The manuscript takes on mythical significance, drawing characters towards it with varying mixtures of greed, reverence and curiosity.

The first act of the film is the strongest. The 2001........

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