“La Strada - Criterion Collection” (Federico Fellini)
“Marie Antoinette” (Sofia Coppola)
I have watched several movies this break (while doing nothing much else). Here are two I have finished. I can adhd a few movies at a time when watching by myself.
La Strada
This an Italian language flick directed by Ferdrico Fellini. This was the film that blew up Anthony Quinn’s career. It is an absolutely amazing performance of a street performer, Zampano, that acquires a new assistant, Gelsomina played by Giulietta Mesina, Fellini’s wife. Nepotism has never worked better.
It is a bit surreal in that the story sort of floats by. Under the guise of the travel performer the plot follows their meandering course. Despite the womanizing and physical abuse, Gelsomina grows to adore Zampano in a way that only she can and with the realization that only she maybe be able to adore him. She refuses the variety of opportunities to leave but stays by his side to a disastrous end.
Filmed in black and white it is gorgeously photographed. Mature camera angles, use of depth of field and long dolly shots make the best use of the bleak Italy surroundings. traveling through the still war torn areas of poorer Italy you get wrapped in to the story. It also helps the meandering feel by a lack of visual anchors for you to hang on to. It forces the landscape on you and the stark realities of the relationship is more in focus on this backdrop. The minimalist vibe to the story is due to Fellini coming out of the Italian Neorealism camp that forced bleak backrdrops, long takes and focus on characters out of the lower class.
Quinn’s Zampano is a brute but manages to eke out enough humanity for you to begin to root for him to finally become aware of Gelsomina’s adoration. He portrays the characteristics of a past rough life without soliloquy and extraneous action. Zampano also embodies what Italy, maybe even Europe, was like at the time. Mesina’s wide eyed simpleton is absolutely absorbing. It is as if she is beyond knowledge but is the only one to have it all figured out.
A masterpiece. Also first winner of Best Foreign Film Oscar
This is a glossy telling of the name sake’s life around the time Marie came of age and became queen. I liked “Lost in Translation” (Sofia Coppola) but this is a bit different in that its focus is not on the plot per say but on the subtle reasons behind royals actions. We know what happens in the end, heads roll. It is the small conversations that get portrayed by Coppola that provide the enlightening to the why of the matter. It is glossy and a little sugary but it is beautifully photographed, well acted and the modern soundtrack is great (it works wonderfully . Worth a see in my opinion.
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