The films of Werner Herzog and Sergio Leone are evoked in The Tale of King Crab, a two-part saga inspired by a folktale told by some elderly Italian hunters.

In this gorgeously shot feudal period epic, a hard-drinking, chronically disobedient wanderer named Luciano, who lives in a remote, late 19th-century Italian village. His life becomes undone by alcohol, forbidden love, and a bitter conflict with the prince of the region over the right of passage through an ancient gateway. When the quarrel escalates, Luciano is exiled to the distant Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego where, with the help of ruthless gold-diggers, he searches for a mythical treasure, with the help of a giant crab, that serves as a compass. Filmmakers Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis have created a highly unconventional narrative of redemption, where only greed and insanity can prevail in these barren lands.