Tag Archives: roberto rossellini

Francis and the wild things

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Dave

Of Saint Francis’s ability to lure birds and beasts there can hardly be any question. But the modern reader may well inquire as to the nature of his alluring power and may ask science for an explanation. Unfortunately science seems … Continue reading →

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no sympathy for the three-legged pig

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Dave

Saint Francis of Assisi’s love was not limited to birds and beasts. When possible he would throw fresh caught fish back into the water, urging them to not let themselves be taken again. A cicada made its home beside the … Continue reading →

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general rovere’s ride

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Dave

Complicity and redemption… It might not be comparable to Open City, but General Della Rovere by Rossellini, for its meanings and its movements, had to be taken seriously. After the initial drive of italian neo-realimo picures poured forth in the … Continue reading →

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paisan: real to reel

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Dave

Impressive. The Italian neo-realists encapsulated the entire postwar delapidation, nihilism and then re-birth by refusing to dodge the issues by intoxicating themselves with pretty pipe dreams and resonant extravaganzas, avoiding the temptation to money making based on the Hollywood formula … Continue reading →

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the realismo deal

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Dave

Hollywood motion pictures that immediately preceded WWII were basically decorative and a kind of falsifying cosmetic that bore little resemblance to the post war trauma and destruction that had occurred. One had to look elsewhere…. By far the most impressive … Continue reading →

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reel to reel with neo-real

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Dave

By far the most impressive foreign pictures of the immediate post WWII period, that of delapidation and regenesis were those made by Italian neo-realists who, refusing to dodge the issues by intoxicating themselves with pretty pipe dreams and resonant extravaganzas, … Continue reading →

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ROYAL FLUSH & BLUSH WITH THE SUN KING: idiot bastard sons?

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Dave

It was the world of Saint-Simon. In his insultingly tiny Versailles room a noble diarist recorded life in the court of the Sun King. Prudery, malice, and consideration of status filled his pages and produced a masterpiece that recorded the … Continue reading →

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RITUAL & POMP WITH THE SUN KING:WHO WILL REMOVE THE ROYAL DUNG?

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Dave

We know a vast amount of what went on in Versailles at the court of the Louis XIV, especially between the years 1691 and 1723, when the French monarchy, having reached the apogee of its power, was descending and slowly … Continue reading →

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