Italian neo-realism in color?
Elena Nakashima
because neo-realism as opposed to hyper-realism, was about basic
issues and focusing on such--visually and emotionally--it lent a great
deal of dignity to the lives of its protagonists. Color films tend to
render the world dull and mundane.
Open City is about liberation vs oppression in b/w. Color would have
distracted us from this basic dialectic.
Grand Inquisitor
The Year of Living Dangerously. Not Italian, though.
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Elena Nakashima
>
> > Would Italian NeoRealist films have worked well in color? I think not
> > because neo-realism as opposed to hyper-realism, was about basic
> > issues and focusing on such--visually and emotionally--it lent a great
> > deal of dignity to the lives of its protagonists. Color films tend to
> > render the world dull and mundane.
> > Open City is about liberation vs oppression in b/w. Color would have
> > distracted us from this basic dialectic.
>
> The Year of Living Dangerously. Not Italian, though.
A fine movie but not neo-realist, not even truly realist. The last
third of movie is almost surreal, and it's as much a romance as about
politics; and ultimately, it doesn't care about the latter as we see
Gibson walking away from the engulfing hell into the arms of the woman
he loves and bidding farewell to the year of living dangerously but
also thrillingly and romantically.
Elena Nakashima
> The Wide Blue Road was in colour. See that before you make any decisions.
>
Havent' seen it but I still think b/w achieves something color
doesn't. Simply turning Bicycle Thieves or Paisan into color
illustrates the point. We become aware of details and less of basic
conflicts. The argument for b/w photos in newspapers is they focus on
the issues and the basic emotions and not on, say, the color of the
dress a woman is wearing.
It's true in any category of film but I still in genre films the
difference between b/w and color is less significant than in realist
films. After all, genre films are about formulas, about artifice;
regardless of whether it's in color or b/w, we are dealing with
fakery. But realist films aspire to reflect reality, the very world
we inhabit; as Welles said of Bicycle Thieves we feel almost as though
the camera(or the screen)dissolves between the image and the audience;
we feel as though peering into the actual world itself.
In this dynamic, I think b/w, though less realistic, somehow heightens
the moral dynamic of the scenario whereas realist films in color tend
to make the world seem more banal, mundane, and ordinary, which is not
a aesthetic criticism but just a point about emotional impact.
Accatone by Pasolini moves away from neo-realism but the stark b/w
images still imbue the world with some elemental dignity. No one is
saved in Los Olvidados yet it all seems more tragic. 400 Blows
maintains a stark, unembellished beauty because of its b/w images. We
take less notice of the fact the kid's shabbily dressed or that the
classrooms are threadbare; such details simply become basic facts, not
cluttered details and we focus on the lives and story.