Tag: Criterion
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#02: Death in Venice (Luchino Visconti, 1971)
On this episode, we’re discussing Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice (1971) with special guest and Visconti aficionado Jon Laubinger (Film Baby Film, The 25th Frame Media)! We go into the film’s themes of beauty, art, and decay, as well as how setting and geography fit into this dark tale. Jon also shares great insight around how Death…
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Mamma Roma (1962)
Pasolini takes us to the outskirts of life and challenges our assumptions in the moving and intelligent Mamma Roma. Almost a mix of Nights of Cabiria with Mildred Pierce, this thoughtful tale of a woman who will do anything for her son leaves nothing at face value, and pulses with the confusion and pain of everyday life. Anna…
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Le Notti Bianche (1957)
Le Notti Bianche, or White Nights, is a dark yet passionate film about love, loneliness, and sacrifice. A young man and woman, Mario and Natalia, meet by chance one night as Mario is strolling the streets of their small village. The artificiality of the sets and casual nature of their acquaintance misleads the viewer into believing…
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Stromboli, terra di dio (1950)
Stromboli, terra di dio is the moody, deliberate character study of a desperate yet stubborn woman, played to perfection by Ingrid Bergman, who is pushed to the brink of madness (and possibly beyond). It begins with uncharacteristic romanticism from director Roberto Rossellini, with a dreamy, idealized love affair between woman and man in a refugee camp,…
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The Flowers of St. Francis (1950)
Actually the first film I’ve ever seen by Roberto Rossellini, The Flowers of St. Francis is the sweet biopic of sorts about St. Francis of Assisi and his followers (or flowers, if you will). It is told in a serious of interesting, sometimes humorous, vignettes, such as St. Francis meeting a leper in the countryside, and…
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I vitelloni (1953)
The impressive third film by Federico Fellini, I vitelloni, is one of his most accessible because it has less typical Fellini-esque qualities; even as an adoring Fellini fan, I recognize that not everyone would necessarily enjoy his whimsical, surreal, and fantastical depictions of Italian life. This movie, about five young men in postwar Italy, exhibits more…
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Mafioso (1962)
Mafioso is a prime example of the commedia all’italiana as a complex film blurring the lines between comedy and drama. For the most part, it is entertaining though the climax is rather slow and brings the film to a sputtering end rather than a truly satisfying conclusion. It is the story of Nino Badalamenti, a Sicilian technician…
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Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
The most disturbing movie I’ve ever seen, both in content and the hard truths it presents. Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom is a not-too-far-fetched allegory about four libertines toward the end of Italian fascism. These four powerful men kidnap eighteen young men and women and transport them an isolated house in the countryside.…