Released to Criterion this week is a film that caused shock and outrage in its native Italy upon its release in 1965. Marco Bellocchio’s feature debut Fists in the Pocket is a disquieting, macabre and unique work that seemed designed to ruffle a few feathers, not only in its desire […]
Italian Neorealism
Umberto D (1952) I’m Not Crying OK? It’s Just Something In My Eye (Review)
Released to Criterion this week is Umberto D., Vittorio De Sica’s classic film about a pensioner who struggles to make ends meet in an economically-ravaged Italy in the post-war years. A retired civil servant, the ageing Umberto is determined to keep his dignity as he navigates a series of challenges […]
I Vitelloni (1953) Early Fellini with glimmers of his magic touch (Review)
A Ciambra (2017) Neo-Italian Social Neo-Realism fails to recapture the magic of the masters (Review)
A spectre is haunting cinema— the spectre of Italian neorealism. Spectral, because despite the critical and cultural ripples made by films like The Florida Project, American Honey, and Valeska Grisebach’s Western, these non-professional actors, semi-real situations and hitherto unexplored settings tend to be forgotten by awards season. The genre, which […]