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Development
The neorealists were heavily influenced by French poetic realism. Both Michelangelo Antonioni and Luchino Visconti had worked closely with Jean Renoir. Additionally, many of the filmmakers involved in neorealism developed their skills working on calligraphist films (though the short-lived movement was markedly different from neorealism). Elements of neorealism are also found in the films of Alessandro Blasetti and the documentary-style films of Francesco De Robertis. Two of the most significant precursors of neorealism are Toni (Renoir, 1935) and 1860 (Blasetti, 1934). CharacteristicsThere are a number of traits that make neorealism distinct. Neorealist films are generally filmed with nonprofessional actors (though, in a number of cases, well known actors were cast in leading roles, playing strongly against their normal character types in front of a background populated by local people rather than extras brought in for the film). They are shot almost exclusively on location, mostly in poor neighborhoods and in the countryside. The subject matter involves life among the impoverished and the working class. Realism is always emphasized, and performances are mostly constructed from scenes of people performing fairly mundane and quotidian activities, completely devoid of the self-consciousness that amateur acting usually entails. Neorealist films generally feature children in major roles, though their roles are frequently more observational than participatory. Image:Lamberto.jpg Lamberto Maggiorani in Ladri di biciclette Neorealism became famous globally in 1946 with Roberto Rossellini's Roma, città aperta (Rome, Open City), when it won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival as the first major film produced in Italy after the war. Despite containing many elements extraneous to the principles of neorealism, it depicted clearly the struggle of normal Italian people to live from day to day under the extraordinary difficulties of the German occupation of Rome, consciously doing what they can to resist the occupation. The children play a key role in this, and their presence at the end of the film is indicative of their role in neorealism as a whole: as observers of the difficulties of today who hold the key to the future. Vittorio De Sica's 1948 film Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves) is also representative of the genre, with non-professional actors, and a story that details the hardships of working-class life after the war.
ImpactItalian neorealism has had as deep and broad an impact on the history of cinema as any of the most significant movements in film. Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Luchino Visconti, three of the most important and celebrated filmmakers of all time began their careers in neorealism, and brought elements of it with them through their careers. The French New Wave critics celebrated neorealism and incorporated much of it in their own movement. Other movements in The United States, Poland, Japan, The United Kingdom and elsewhere developed many of the ideas first articulated by the neorealists. The influential Indian director Satyajit Ray is said to have been inspired to become a filmmaker after seeing The Bicycle Thieves in a theater in London. Some of the most notable neo-realist influenced films were the popular "spaghetti westerns" directed by Sergio Leone in the mid-1960s, which spawned many subsequent imitators. Some of Pier Paolo Pasolini's works in the 1970s were considered part of a new neorealist sub-genre, even if Pasolini's attention to picaresque was this time openly declared and evident. The neorealist content would then be in an accessory description, spectacular and perhaps documentary, of some elements of true common life in Italy during and after the so-called economic "boom" of the 1960s. In recent times other movies have been produced that deeply recall the neorealist canons, including works by Gianni Amelio and others. Arguably, something of neorealism can be found in most Italian cinema and often also in TV fiction. Italian neorealism was inspired by French cinéma vérité (and deeply inspired the French New Wave), German Kammerspiel, and influenced the U.S. documentary movement and the Polish Film School. Its effects can be seen as recently as the Danish Dogme 95 movement. Significant works in Italian neorealismPrecursors and influences
Main works
Major FiguresSee also
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