Tag: Pier Paolo Pasolini

  • #05: The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964)

    #05: The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964)

    Buona Pasqua! This is a special Easter edition of Cinema Italiano, with an audio essay on Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew, exploring this excitingly anachronistic tale of Christ with themes and motifs that recur throughout Pasolini’s filmography. Links: The Gospel According to Film – April 2018 essay comparing three films about the…

  • Mamma Roma (1962)

    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…

  • Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

    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.…