Is Neo Realism dead?
ALYC
if it has had any major influence on Hollywood...in terms of techniques or
genre?
Can any1 think of any recent films (70s,80s,90s) that contains elements of
neorealist influence? I guess it's more likely to influence movies in 3rd
world countries than hollywood?
Lastly, could One Flew Over the Cuckcoo's Nest directed by Milos Forman be
an example neorealist influence?....eg. location filming, some use of
non-professional actors....
or
Schindler's list???
The 13th Floor
>Italian Neorealism had an impact on French New Wave.....but I was wondering
>if it has had any major influence on Hollywood...in terms of techniques or
>genre?
Sure it has, but I don't think anyone is directly imitating the
Italian films at this point. Stuff like "The Bicycle Thief" and "La
Strada" have had lasting impact on filmmaking.
I haven't seen anything I would consider remotely "neorealist"-like
out of Hollywood or even American films, probably since the 70's. The
only film I've seen in recent years that's reminiscent of the NR style
would be "Salaam Bombay," though I'm sure there are others.
John H
>Italian Neorealism had an impact on French New Wave.....but I was wondering
>if it has had any major influence on Hollywood...in terms of techniques or
>genre?
>
>Can any1 think of any recent films (70s,80s,90s) that contains elements of
>neorealist influence? I guess it's more likely to influence movies in 3rd
>world countries than hollywood?
>
>Lastly, could One Flew Over the Cuckcoo's Nest directed by Milos Forman be
>an example neorealist influence?....eg. location filming, some use of
>non-professional actors....
>or
>Schindler's list???
>
>
>
>
Neither of those films is vaguely neo-realist. though I suspect one
could draw a lineage for Cuckoo's Next through the Czech New Wave back
to the French New Wave....
You might look at the Dardennes Brother's films, particularly last
year's Cannes Palme D'Or Winner, Rosetta. J. Hoberman called Abbas
Kiarostami a third rate neorealist.
Neo-realism is an odd duck anyway -- someone once described it as
"rich Italian communists showing up in their ferraris to depict the
lives of honest working people." (Visconti in a nutshell) It is, like
the French New Wave, or Dogme 95 a reaction movement, against the
heavy studio artificiality of the Italian cinema of the fascist period
rather than an aesthetic of necessity, which describes a lot of
contemporary Third World Cinema, which tend to be realist by
necessity.
John Harkness
Beautyboy
>if it has had any major influence on Hollywood...in terms of techniques or
>genre?>>
How about Mike Leigh's films like Secrets and Lies.They aren't Hollywood
movies, but they are recent.
no...@webtv.net
Made forty years apart, these two pictures have a certain relevance ...
that of the uncertainty of life of children in the street.
1948. The Bicycle Thief.
1948. Oliver Twist.
1950. Los Olvidados.
1959. The 400 Blows.
1981. Pixote.
1983. Oliver!
1988. Salaam Bombay!
Seven really great movies. Without hesitation, one recommends them all.
Salaam Bombay! ... in case you don't know it ... was made by the very
talented Mira Nair ... and you should know her.
Mississippi Masala was a film she made here.
There's a little girl in Salaam Bombay! ...
"Manju" ... (Hansa Vithal). She'll break your heart if you have one.
Salaam!
. . .
Norton Shawn
John H
Well, it's realist -- and part of a long tradition of what's known as
"kitchen sink" drama. It's an English tradition, not an Italian one.
Neo-realism refers very specifically to a movement in the post-war
Italian cinema, with a few precursors, like Renoir's Toni. It's a
movement against the studio dominated traditions of the Fascist era
Italian cinema. It does have influence -- particularly on the new
wave, but it's also worth noting that most of the best-known
"neo-realist" directors themselve abandoned the style once it had
served their purpose. Rossellini (Open City, Paisan) abandoned it in
less than a decade to do his melodramas with Bergman, and then finally
to do his materialist historical dramas. Visconti -- Rocco and His
Brothers notwithstanding a reluctant neo indeed -- went for historical
recreation and sexual melodrama. It's hard to imagine a film less
neo-realist than Death in Venice.
Realism is, as Andrew Sarris noted, just another form of stylization.
John Harkness
no...@webtv.net
varieties of decoration.
Ryan K.
>Realism ... as the great painter Ad >Reinhardt said ... is one of the 57
>varieties of decoration.
I thought that was H.J. Heinz.
no...@webtv.net
one of the 57 varieties of decoration.
whereupon Ryan K. responded that he thought that that was H.J. Heinz.
Yes, Ryan. That was the joke, Ryan. "57 Varieties" had beome a cliche
statement by the 1940's.
Say funny ... Ryan.
Ryan K.
>whereupon Ryan K. responded that he >thought that that was H.J. Heinz.
I've leapt without looking into an irony-free zone.
Ryan K.
>whereupon Ryan K. responded that he >thought that that was H.J. Heinz.
I've leapt without looking into an irony-free zone.
>Say funny ... Ryan
ffffffffffffffffff
ffffffffffffffffffuuuuuu
fffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuck you :)