The third instalment of my reviews from the Fifth Hong Kong International Film Festival covers three films from India and one from Pakistan.
The 5th Hong Kong International Film Festival, part three
Tag: Neo-realism
The films of Eloy de la Iglesia
Severin introduces the work of Eloy de la Iglesia, a little-known Basque filmmaker with three releases spanning the period from the end of the Franco regime to the transition to democracy in Spain. Two thrillers with a satirical edge made in the early ’70s give way to a trilogy of violent, neo-realist depictions of youth crime and drug addiction in the early ’80s. Dynamic and visceral, these films are deeply empathetic to members of the underclass – workers and dispossessed adolescents – and unflinching in their treatment of addiction and homosexuality in a repressive society.
World Cinema Project 3: Criterion Blu-ray review
With volume 3 of their World Cinema Project box sets, Criterion has released another treasure trove of largely unknown (in the West) features spanning five decades and six countries, from the Expressionist horror of Mexico’s Dos Monjes (1934) to the Neo-realist horrors of life on Brazil’s streets in Héctor Babenco’s Pixote (1980), with stops in between in Indonesia, Iran, Mauritania and Cuba.
Asia extreme
Although there are obviously differences from culture to culture, many Asian movies share a tendency to to ignore the kind of “realism” Western, and particularly American, movies so often feel is necessary – which is one reason so many U.S. remakes of Asian genre movies take on a pedestrian quality nowhere evident in the originals. Three recent Asian movies – from Korea, Japan and China – use different approaches to explore societies in which economic and social inequality engender violence and to some degree madness. One uses blackly comic satire, one pushes genre tropes to absurd extremes, and one pushes neorealism into the realm of nightmare.
Marcel Pagnol’s Marseilles Trilogy (1931-36): Criterion Blu-ray review
Criterion’s Blu-ray edition of Marcel Pagnol’s Marseilles Trilogy is a revelation, a vibrant, humanistic display of the dramatic possibilities of sound cinema.
Recent viewing, May-June 2016, part one
Recent viewing ranges from smart B-movie horror to magic realist-inflected neo-realism, with excellent disks from Blue Underground, Shout! Factory and Arrow Video.
Antonio Pietrangeli’s I Knew Her Well (1965): Criterion Blu-ray review
Criterion’s Blu-ray release of Antonio Pietrangeli’s I Knew Her Well (1965) reinforces the impression that this filmmaker has been almost criminally neglected as a major figure in Italian film.
Criterion Blu-ray review: Giuseppe De Santis’ Bitter Rice (1949)
Giuseppe De Santis’ Bitter Rice (1949) expands the possibilities of neo-realism by incorporating elements of melodrama and film noir into the lives of women working in the rice fields of northern Italy.
DVD of the Week:
The Moment of Truth (1965) by Francesco Rosi
“The confrontation between intelligence and animal instinct, between reasoning and brute force … without artistry and style, it becomes vulgar butchery, and it’s merely disgusting and cruel.” – Francesco Rosi Sometimes the subject matter of a film can present an obstacle to judging it fairly as a film. I felt myself faced with this issue when […]
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