The new Italian cinema
Subtitle: studies in dance and despair
By: R.T. Witcombe.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 1982
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 294
Subjects: Motion pictures -- Italy.; Motion picture plays -- History and criticism.
Description: This volume examines the development of Italian motion pictures from 1960 to the 1970s. The author analyzes the films of various Italian directors, including Fellini, Antonioni, and Bertolucci. In the 1960s, Italian directors began to deviate from the tenets of neorealism, creating autobiographical, fantastical, and mythical films that unabashedly celebrated the artistic imagination. These filmmakers turned their attention away from the urban and rural poor and toward the alienation of the cosmopolitan middle and upper classes. What was lost in political content was gained in stylistic innovation: films of the period featured groundbreaking uses of symbolic mise-en-scène, allegorical narratives, elliptical editing, and expressive cinematography. Key films include Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura (1959), Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960), Pier Paolo Pasolini's Teorema (1968), and Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist (1970).
Notes: Includes index.