Mixed by Erry (directed by Sydney Sibilia) chronicles the rise and fall of a bootleg tape empire during the late 20th century through predictable, crowd-pleasing story beats, but provides an interesting and nostalgic window into the Italian music industry and the changing technology of that era.

Set in the Forcella district of Naples, Enrico “Erry” and his brothers Peppe and Angelo help their father sell counterfeit whiskey to unsuspecting buyers. They coordinate as a team to carefully brew tea to just the right shade of brown, and re-seal the bottles to look like the real thing. On his own, Erry dreams of becoming a DJ, but lacks the charisma and onstage presence to energize a crowd; he finds his way through instead selling custom mix tapes, tailored to the genre preferences of each buyer.

Branding his product line as “Mixed by Erry,” in partnership with his brothers, Erry’s tape business takes off, as an affordable means for kids and adults alike to access music, stretching out to towns without record stores. In order to drive scale, they ramp up their operation, investing in professional-grade tape duplicators, hiring a large work force to operate production “laboratories,” and becoming a massive buyer of blank tapes to meet their supply needs.

Their market presence continues to skyrocket, inevitably drawing the attention of the police and music industry. The brothers try to stay one step ahead, but being tied down by their family lives and maintaining a strong public persona, there’s only so long they can keep running.

Mixed by Erry is a familiar story, of young, naive criminals who tap into success and keep on growing, with the looming threat that it will all come crashing down. Its subject matter, piracy and theft of artistic property, is tonally presented as more of a comedy, with light bickering between the brothers and their work serving net positive, focusing on the happy customers benefiting from their services and no impact shown for the artists whose work is stolen. The film’s energy stays upbeat, presenting the brothers as likable kids who get themselves into trouble rather than black-market criminal masterminds.

It also provides an interesting window into the Italian music scene. A touchstone event that comes up, throughout several years of the narrative, is the Sanremo Music Festival: an annual song contest in which new music is released, and a winner declared, all within the course of the festival, rather than looking back on already-released music. A remarkable feat is how Mixed by Erry releases the Sanremo song compilation, mid-festival, when even the official album hasn’t come out, as a testament to the brothers’ ingenuity to meet customer demand, outpacing the legitimate music industry.

Mixed by Erry is a fun, albeit lean, crime comedy that’s easily watchable with its likable characters and nostalgia for the bygone mix tape era.