2003: Russian Ark (Aleksandr Sokurov) Pasquale Iannone December 2017 100 Years of Soviet Cinema Issue 85 Russian Ark/Russkiy kovcheg (2002 Russia 99 mins) Prod Co: Egoli Tossell Film/For a Film/The Hermitage Bridge Studio Prod: Andrei Deryabin, Jens Meurer Dir: Aleksandr Sokurov Scr: Anatoli Nikiforov,...
1971: Trial of the Road (Aleksei German) Pasquale Iannone December 2017 100 Years of Soviet Cinema Issue 85 In her 2007 study of the Russian war film, Denise J. Youngblood argues that while Soviet society was in a state of stagnation in the 1970s, the Soviet war film certainly was not: “The thematic gap between...
Sicilia! (Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, 1999) Pasquale Iannone September 2017 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 84 The most famous work by Siracusa-born Elio Vittorini, Conversations in Sicily (1941) tells the story of Silvestro Ferrauto, a Sicilian living in Milan who makes the trip back to his birthplace in an attempt to...
Mafioso Pasquale Iannone July 2014 2014 Melbourne International Film Festival Dossier Issue 71 While he may be most famous outside of Italy for co-directing Federico Fellini’s first feature Luci del varietà (Variety Lights, 1950), Milan-born Alberto Lattuada had a long career spanning more than four...
That Obscure Object of Desire Pasquale Iannone December 2013 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 70 While there are many examples of individual actors playing multiple roles in the same film – Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949), Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned...
Un tranquillo posto di campagna/A Quiet Place in the Country Pasquale Iannone July 2013 Uncategorized Issue 67 Between 1961 and 1968, Elio Petri established himself as one of the most distinctive voices of Italian post-neo-realist cinema. His 1961 feature debut L’Assassino is an often-overlooked example of the filmic...
L’assassino Pasquale Iannone March 2013 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 66 Among the great wave of film debuts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, that of Rome-born director Elio Petri is often overshadowed by those of his contemporaries both in Italy and abroad. Even in terms of...
Trial of the Road Pasquale Iannone March 2013 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 66 In her 2007 study of the Russian war film, Denise J. Youngblood argues that while Soviet society was in a state of stagnation in the 1970s, the Soviet war film certainly was not: “The thematic gap between...
I Magliari Pasquale Iannone March 2012 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 62 Released two years before his international breakthrough Salvatore Giuliano (1962), Francesco Rosi’s I magliari (1959) is the story of immigrant Italian workers seeking their fortune in late Adenauer-era...
Lucky Luciano Pasquale Iannone March 2012 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 62 As Gian-Piero Brunetta has noted, Francesco Rosi’s Il caso Mattei (The Mattei Affair, 1972) and Lucky Luciano (1973) saw the Neapolitan filmmaker return to the narrative model of his first major success...
Europa Europa Pasquale Iannone October 2011 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 60 Who was my friend? Who was my enemy? How could they be kind to me and at the same time kill others so horribly? What set us apart? A simple foreskin? - Solly Perel in Europa, Europa Among the many...
Senso Pasquale Iannone March 2011 Cinémathèque Annotations on Film Issue 58 Released in 1954, Senso was Visconti’s fourth feature and is recognised as a milestone in the director’s career. Not only did it mark a decisive move away from the neo-realism of Ossessione (1942) and La...