355. Rocco e i suoi fratelli/Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

Running Time: 175 minutes
Directed By: Luchino Visconti
Written By: Luchino Visconti, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Vasco Pratolini, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa, Enrico Medioli, from novel Il Ponte della Ghisolfa by Giovanni Testori
Main Cast: Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, Katina Paxinou, Spiros Focas
Click here to view the trailer

KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY

The Godfather: Part III is in the mail, prompting me to make the decision to bring back the monthly recap post. I'm not sure if you guys were a fan of those or not, but this time around the monthly recap will be a little different. I'm tinkering with the format now, but I think I'll mainly be discussing non-BOOK movies, including some stills and maybe adding in a couple of TOP 10 lists from movies I've seen throughout the month. Stay tuned. Now then - Rocco and His Brothers...

"Rocco" was three hours long and didn't waste a minute of it's epic screen time, so I won't dilly dally, but forgive me if I gloss over some stuff. I'll try to hit the bullet points. The Parondi family (four brothers and their mother) travel from the countryside of Sicily to the bustling city of Milan to live with the fifth brother, Vincenzo (Focas), whom they burst in on during his engagement party. An argument ensues between Rosaria (Parondi matriarch) and the mother of Vincenzo's bride. Vincenzo, raised to stick up for his family, takes his mom's side and promptly leaves with her and his four brothers. The six of them end up getting a little shack of an apartment, where they're basically sleeping on top of each other, without two nickels to rub together. A particularly favorite scene of mine shows the five brothers awaking early, so that they can go out and shovel snow to make a few bucks. The movie is split into five parts, with each part focusing on one of the brothers. However, no part deals exclusively with one brother i.e. Simone (Salvatori) is just as much a part of the Vincenzo segment, as Vincenzo is. Anyway, Simone ends up becoming a boxer and is lured to the dark side after experiencing sex, money and fame. He begins shacking up with a hooker, Nadia (Girardot), who later dumps him. Nadia reappears later, running into Rocco (Delon) on the street and the two strike up a chat. One thing leads to another and the two are in love, except Simone knows nothing about it...for now. Meanwhile, Vincenzo patches things up with his former fiance (Claudia Cardinale), Mama Parondi worries about all of her sons, Rocco joins the service and Ciro (brother #4) gets a girlfriend too.

SPOILER ALERT!

I'm home sick from work today, so pardon me if this sucks, as I've been in bed since yesterday morning and am feeling a little woozy just sitting in my computer chair. Anyway, I'll give it the old college try and hope for the best. I went into this not expecting to like it. I think I had good reason for that expectation, as we all remember the tragedy that was The Leopard - probably my least favorite movie of all last season. However, since about twenty five percent of the movies I have left are over two hours (most closer to three) I figured I'd better start knocking out the epics early and so I started with this one. However, I couldn't have been more wrong, as I actually ended up loving this and would probably go so far as to say it's the best thing I've seen all month, right up there with Alien and The Godfather (the original, not that tripe sequel). I know I say this a lot, but seriously, what's not to like? Okay, maybe you don't dig black & white and maybe foreign films aren't your bag, but any good, self respecting film buff is gonna' have a field day with this one, analyzing the characters, mulling over the plot and just basking in the film's greatness.

So what brother are you? I think if could be any of the five brothers, I'd compare myself to Vincenzo. He kind of lays low, keeps laid back, doesn't even have that much of a meltdown when the gorgeous Claudia Cardinale kicks him to the curb, early on. He's a family man, slowly weening his way away from his birth family and starting a new beginning with his wife and kids. However, he hasn't forgotten anyone and when Rocco knocks on the door in the middle of the night, bloodied and beaten, he embraces him, holds him on his feet and helps him. Not that I didn't love Rocco, but wasn't the guy just a little too forgiving? Like forgiving to an unbelievable level? "Hey, I know my brother raped you and I know we're in love, but I think you should go back to him because, darn it, he's just so unhappy without you. Shucks!" It was a bit much to swallow, but you got the sense that this is just how he was raised, to always protect the family and never let an outsider intrude. In fact, the tale of Rocco is probably the tale of that one time he almost let an intruder come between him and his family and even when he let Nadia go, he still pined for her, she was still, even while gone, coming between him and his family, he just didn't know it. The scene where Simone rapes Nadia is probably one of the most uncomfortable, hardest scenes I've ever had to sit through, right up there with Noodles' rape on Deborah in Once Upon a Time in America. Another really tough, "pour your freakin' heart out" scene was when Rocco learns that Simone has killed Nadia. WOW! That's it, just WOW! Delon proves he's in a master class, among the finest actors gracing the pages of THE BOOK. I've rarely seen such heartache committed to celluloid. Perhaps the only time I have seen such heartbreak is that scene in Scenes from a Marriage when Erland Josephson tells Liv Ullmann that he wants a divorce and you can almost literally see her heart tearing in half on camera, but I digress...

If there was ever an actress for Claudia Cardinale to play second fiddle to, it was Annie Girardot. Perhaps one of the sexiest performances in all of cinema. She completely nails it when she sashay's into the Parondi apartment, kicks out her foot and adjusts her stockings. She has them all hooked and this is where Simone starts to go rotten. While I'm on the subject of Simone - we've got Delon as the most heartbreaking, Girardot as the most sexy - how about naming Simone one of the most hated characters I've encountered. Then again, I also feel sorry for him. His fame is gone, his girl is gone, he had a taste of the big life in the big city and he blew it. On the other hand, he leads to the downfall of Rocco, inadvertently forcing Rocco to give up his love, his money and his happiness. Such a lot to mull over. Anyway, the film is great, a big hit with yours truly. I fully expected there to be more symbolism that I got tangled in, but if there was symbolism, it was lost on me and probably for the better. Consider Visconti 1-1, with his next movie being the rubber film in my decision on whether I like his work or not.

RATING: 9/10  Can't go whole hog, just because, but easily the best thing I've seen all month and one that I'd definitely like to revisit someday.

MOVIES WATCHED: 906
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 95

January 31, 2015  11:41am

408. Il Gattopardo/The Leopard (1963)

Running Time: 185 minutes
Directed By: Luchino Visconti
Written By: Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Massimo Franciosa, Enrico Medioli, Luchino Visconti, from novel by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa
Main Cast: Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon, Paolo Stoppa, Rina Morelli
Click here to view the trailer

I'LL TAKE THE BLAME...

Wow, nearly ten days since my last review. I'm such a slacker! It's been rough going at work though (you try tackling retail at Christmas time!) and what with Christmas shopping and making time to spend with my wife, movies have not been first priority, to say the least. However, they're still a high priority and I really want to wrap this season up sooner rather than later, which is why I tackled the longest beast on my short term to do list first, rather than saving this uphill climb for later.

Here's the deal guys, if you actually thought I was going to like this one in the slightest, then you haven't been paying attention. This one had been lying on my desk for days. I put it into the DVD player one day last week when my wife was working the night shift and got about fifteen minutes in before deciding I just wasn't up to a three hour movie and opting out. Fast forward to Tuesday night and I got up the gumption to just do it and oy vey, what a chore this was! Dare I say the biggest chore of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book thus far? Perhaps. I actually couldn't even give you a credible plot synopsis, because my mind wandered so easily with this one. I just couldn't have possibly cared less about what was playing out onscreen and it's a shame, because Burt Lancaster is a broad shouldered man who commands full attention, Alain Delon is a fine actor whom I loved in Le Samourai and Claudia Cardinale is breath taking, here more than ever. It's just that I don't do history and the older it gets the less attention I care to give. When you send me back to 19th century Italy and pieces of history that I know absolutely zero about and have absolutely zero interest in learning about, I tap out. At one point, I realized that I was never going to like this one for plot reasons, so I decide to start looking for reasons to give it a few points. Here's the thing though, for all the praise that this film gets for great looking cinematography, I didn't see it. Hey, maybe my perception is a bit skewed, as I've seen some really gorgeous pictures this season, dozens of which trump this as far as good looking movies go (Days of Heaven and The Conformist come to mind, both of which I disliked plot wise, but gave decent enough marks too just because they had other positive attributes).

What took three nights to finish (one hour per night is all I could muster) wound up being a huge bust, but one that I anticipated. I kind of knew going in that if I ended up liking this one, it would be a pleasant surprise and that just didn't happen, folks. During the third room and with so much stuff on my mind lately (Christmas, work, etc.), I could barely keep my thoughts on the movie and by that point, has basically decided to call it a wash, accept the low rating and move on. So that's that and I take full responsibility for this one. Perhaps I'd made my mind up before going in, but after years of being a movie fan, I know what I like and this isn't it, so maybe making my mind up early wasn't that much of a sin. I'll stop rambling now...

RATING: 1/10  Again, I take the blame and if you loved this one, more power to you. I, for one, found nothing redeeming and that's three hours of life I won't get back.

MOVIES WATCHED: 880
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 121

December 12, 2014  7:43pm

165. Ossessione (1943)

Running Time: 133 minutes
Directed By: Luchino Visconti
Written By: Luchino Visconti, Mario Alicata
Main Cast: Clara Calamai, Massimo Girotti, Dhia Cristiani, Elio Marcuzzo, Vittorio Duse

SOMETIMES THE POSTMAN RINGS FOUR TIMES

The second adaptation from THE BOOK of James M. Cain's "The Postman Always Rings Twice" comes from Italy and the eye of Luchino Visconti, one of the fathers (along with Rossellini) of the neo-realist movement. By the way, as I write this it's past midnight and I've been up since 6:30am, so bear with me folks...it's been a long day.

Some of you probably read my "The Postman Always Rings Twice" review, back in (I think) May of 2012. Of course, I'm referring to the Tay Garnett, Hollywood version of the film, starring Lana Turner and John Garfield. However, for those of you that missed it, I'll recount the plot. The film opens with a drifter, Gino (Girotti), arriving at a small, roadside restaurant, with no money in his pocket and a hungry belly. The restaurant is run by a husband and wife, Giuseppe and Giovanna (Calamai). The pair is as mismatched as the baker and his wife (of "The Baker's Wife"), with him being a portly, slovenly sort and she being a gorgeous Italian beauty. Right away Gino and Giovanna strike up a romance and Giovanna spills the beans about marrying Giuseppe when she was hard on her luck, no longer loving him and how even his touch makes her skin crawl. The immediately start hatching plans to run away together, but when they finally go through with it, Giovanna can't do it and insists on going back. Gino breaks off on his own, meets up with a street performer named Lo spagnolo (Marcuzzo) and the two work together for about six months, drifting together. By chance, Giuseppe and Giovanna run into Gino and during some time away from the husband, Gino and Giovanna have time to talk. They end up hatching a plan to kill Giuseppe, so that they can be together. They follow through with the plan, staging a car wreck and making it look like all three of them were involved, killing Giuseppe. Following this, Gino and Giovanna have a hard time coping with the guilt and quarreling begins, all the while trying to sidestep the police investigators.

Gonna' try to keep this short & sweet because, like I said, I'm pretty beat at this point in the night. Umm let's see here...oh yes, "Ossessione"! Better or worse than the Hollywood, Tay Garnett version? I'd have to say better and also note that in retrospect I overrated "The Postman Always Rings Twice", which I gave a '7' upon initial review. My main complaint with that version of the James M. Cain work was the circus that followed the murder of the husband. You get Turner and Garfield going through court, ratting on one another and just a big bunch of brouhaha that wasn't needed. I stated in THAT review that everything should've been kept as simple as possible and it would've been finer and dandier! In "Ossessione", this is actually what happens, as everything is kept pretty simple. There's no media or courtroom circus and following the murder of the husband (which wasn't nearly elaborate enough - a big nitpick), they continue on the simple side, by adding in a touch of paranoia and guilt to the characters, which works well. Gino gets fed up with Giovanna, (who has her sex appeal toned down in the second half, to make her less appealing to both us and Gino) and falls for another girl, this time a prostitute. Giovanna gets jealous, threatens to rat him out to the police, but has a change of heart and they make love on the beach. It doesn't matter though, because some passersby, from the night of the accident, come forward to the police and rat them out anyway. So, we skip the circus, get more story, in a more subtler form and it all works out better in the end.

I will say, however, that the film is too long. It runs just over two hours, but it feels like a lifetime, at times. Everything from Point A to Point B to Point C and so on, is pretty straight-forward, but sometimes it feels like it's taking an eternity to get there. For a movie that seemed to be really good and right on the money, it just bored me very much, at times. I also wasn't crazy about the acting, but will freely admit that Clara Calamai looked great! This was one of those movies, where everything (except nitpicky things) came together nicely, that I just didn't like for some reason, because I just couldn't click with it. I can freely admit that it was good and even better than "The Postman Always Rings Twice", but there was just something missing and I'm not sure what.

RATING: 6/10  Decent stuff, but maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it or something and a rewatch is probably needed someday. Until then, call it a '6'.

MOVIES WATCHED: 676
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 325

May 7, 2013  12:46am