"Umberto D"
steve
Some elements NR elements were there...subject matter, time period, and
*some* of the look and feel...but this film seems much more composed and
expressive than the other NR films Ive seen.
steve
--
"A man was severely injured today in the Knutsford area."
Benny Hill
a total moron's guide to cinema
i especially like the scene where the old man covers a charlie parker
tune with the dog.
steve
On 13-Mar-2005, "a total moron's guide to cinema" <fatsg...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
> yeah, that movie is so coooool.
> i especially like the scene where the old man covers a charlie parker
> tune with the dog.
Perhaps you're not familiar with the many definitions of that word. From
American Heritage Dictionary third edition:
cool (kool) adj.
1. Moderately cold...
..
3. Not excited...
..
7. Slang. Excellent. First rate.
...
37. Slang. steve likes it.
Seriously, though...and this is Tony, right?... do you like the film or not?
Stephen Cooke
On Mon, 14 Mar 2005, Brian Kraft wrote:
> steve wrote:
>
> >Cool film. The wife even enjoyed it. But is this considered neo-realism?
> >Some elements NR elements were there...subject matter, time period, and
> >*some* of the look and feel...but this film seems much more composed and
> >expressive than the other NR films I've seen.
>
> You should add a documentary named "My Voyage to Italy" to your rental
> queue. Martin Scorsese talks about the progression of neo-realism up
> to "Umberto D" and beyond in great detail. Interesting all the way
> through, like listening to your Uncle Marty. Oh yes, he discusses
> Fellini films a lot. Guess which director and movie he ends with.
Please tell me it's not Roberto Benigni.
swac
steve
On 14-Mar-2005, Brian Kraft <bkr...@nyx.net> wrote:
> >Cool film. The wife even enjoyed it. But is this considered
> >neo-realism?
> >Some elements NR elements were there...subject matter, time period, and
> >*some* of the look and feel...but this film seems much more composed and
> >expressive than the other NR films I've seen.
>
> You should add a documentary named "My Voyage to Italy" to your rental
> queue. Martin Scorsese talks about the progression of neo-realism up
> to "Umberto D" and beyond in great detail. Interesting all the way
> through, like listening to your Uncle Marty. Oh yes, he discusses
> Fellini films a lot. Guess which director and movie he ends with.
Thanks. I'll put that in the queue. In the meantime would you or one of the
other film literates clue me in on the defining characteristics of
neo-realism? I thought Id seen enough to know it when I see it, but maybe
Ive keyed on the wrong characteristics.
a total moron's guide to cinema
steve
On 14-Mar-2005, "a total moron's guide to cinema" <fatsg...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
> it's great
Well... there we have it. Another exciting film discussion in the hallowed
halls of..
...RAMP-F.
Say goodnight, Dick.
Goodnight, Dick.
George Kincaid
"Brian Kraft" <bkr...@nyx.net> wrote in message
news:4235dcff$0$37297$892e...@authen.yellow.readfreenews.net...
> Stephen Cooke wrote:
>
>>Please tell me it's not Roberto Benigni.
>
> that was made during the first half of the 1960's.
rmj...@aol.com
>Oh yes, he discusses
Fellini films a lot. Guess which director and movie he ends with. <
La Dolce Vita (Fellini)?
monsie...@hotmail.com
read a book on the matter, but it tends to be a phenomenological thing,
as in opposed to the ayn rand thing you right wingers are into. you may
be better off watching emmerich movies.
sometimes i can't tell the difference between neo realism and neo
modernism, like with viaggio in italia- the real one not the scorcese
thing- and the absolutely stunning flaberghasting and magnificient and
amazing and astounding movie from 2001 what time is it there? by tsai
ming liang. contact me if you wanna see it.
steve
On 15-Mar-2005, monsie...@hotmail.com wrote:
> read a book on the matter, but it tends to be a phenomenological thing,
> as in opposed to the ayn rand thing you right wingers are into.
Huh? Stretching a bit to make some sort of a point here, arent you, Blob?
Im looking for something like a definition... or at least a description.
steve
> Cool film. The wife even enjoyed it. But is this considered neo-realism?
>
> Some elements NR elements were there...subject matter, time period, and
> *some* of the look and feel...but this film seems much more composed and
> expressive than the other NR films Ive seen.
Im not so dumb. Here is something I found on line at:
http://www.carleton.edu/curricular/MEDA/classes/media110/Voigt/paper5.html
Death of Neorealism: Umberto D
By 1952, the situation in Italy had not gotten any better for the common
person. The Christian Democrat party had gained near complete control of the
government, resulting in fleeting sympathy for the socialist and communist
movements at best. During the early 1950's there was immense pressure of
peasant unrest in the agriculture regions of the country and urban society
was also disenchanted to a great degree. This complete disillusionment with
the new Italian society is presented in De Sica's film, Umberto D, which is
generally considered the last film of the original Italian neorealist
movement.
It is not surprising then that, like many other films which are associated
with the end of a movement, while Umberto D contained elements of formal
neorealism--sometimes to a baroque degree--it had also started to turn away
from the neorealist style, using the ability to invoke a symbolic nature in
things with careful use of the camera. By doing so, it was able to
accentuate the statements that De Sica hoped to make. Its baroque nature is
typified in the extremely long take of Maria's morning kitchen routine.
While watching her futilely attempt to light the stove, flick the water at
the ant colony near the sink, or fight to close the door with her foot while
grinding the coffee, she makes the viewer aware of the monotony of her life.
Her silence as she gazes forward, running a hand over her stomach and
thinking about the illegitimate child that will soon force her to lose her
job speaks a thousand words about her inescapable tragedy.
De Sica's co-producer and writer, Zavattini, whose notion of realism
respected the duration of actual time, encouraged this method of film:
"There is a perfect coincidence between narrative film time and that of the
protagonist: the director refuses to give any dramatic structure to her
mundane activity, respecting every intimate detail of reality equally and
making no hierarchical choices between them. The sense of time's duration
weighs upon the viewer just as it does upon the maid, and her simple, yet
eloquent, gestures require no additional dialogue whatsoever to tell us all
we need to know about the tragedy of her life." (Bondanella, 65). It is the
realist nature of De Sica's camera work that wonderfully relates the despair
that the characters of the film must feel. De Sica's use this realist
element makes one acutely aware of the hardship of life in Italy.
But unlike its predecessors, much of Umberto D was filmed in studios, and
with this came an ability to manipulate cameras to achieve particularly
striking angles that invoked something symbolic in their viewing. Whereas
the plight of Ricci is transformed from an individual tragedy to a social
problem by the vast number of bicycles, linens, or complaint sheets that the
viewer sees in the long take, De Sica goes "beyond simple representation of
any 'real' spatial distribution of objects to produce a visual correlative
of the loneliness and solitude felt by Umberto." (Bondanella, 64). We see
this most notably in the shot of the empty hall outside of his bedroom,
which appears sterile, hostile and foreboding. The low angle that it is shot
from, and the brightness only at the far end of the hall where the landlady
lives, reminds the viewer that the good life is far away from insignificant
people like Umberto and Maria. Similarly, the multiple shots filmed through
keyholes further emphasize this distance between those who are successful
and those who are not. The symbolic nature of this construction parallels
the uncaring and cold way in which the landlady treats Umberto who, like
everybody else in the film is, more concerned with her own climb to the top
than with who she hurts on the way up.
*************
John Harkness said this about me in a discussion of "Detour":
"he has as much feeling for style as a cat has for music."
Hey...the cats dig that crazy jazz music, daddy-o!
monsie...@hotmail.com
oh well, steve, if you dont wanna read a book on the matter, head off
to www.dictionary.com