Italian neorealism
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"It has been said that after Umberto D. nothing more could be added to neorealism. Whether because of this, or for other reasons, neorealism effectively ended with this film. Following works turned toward lighter atmospheres, perhaps more coherent with the improving conditions of the country, and this genre has been called pink neorealism. It was this filone that allowed better "equipped" actresses to become real celebrities: the encouraging figures of Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Silvana Pampanini, Lucia Bosé, together with other beauties like Eleonora Rossi Drago, Silvana Mangano, Claudia Cardinale, and Stefania Sandrelli populated the imaginations of Italians just before the so-called "boom" of the 1960s. Soon pink neorealism was replaced by the Commedia all'italiana (Italian Comedy Style), a unique genre that, born on an ideally humouristic line, talked instead very seriously about important social themes."--Sholem Stein |
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Italian neorealism is an Italian film movement often considered to have started in 1943 with Ossessione and ended in 1952 with Umberto D.
The movement is characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed in long takes on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors for secondary and sometimes primary roles. Italian neorealist films mostly contend with the difficult economical and moral conditions of postwar Italy, reflecting the changes in the Italian psyche and the conditions of everyday life: defeat, poverty, and desperation. Because Cinecittà (a complex of studios in Rome--the center of commercial filmmaking in Italy since 1936) was occupied by refugees, films were shot outdoors, amidst devastation.
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Significant works
Precursors and influences
- The works of Giovanni Verga
- Poetic realism
- Lost in Darkness (Nino Martoglio, 1912)
- What Scoundrels Men Are! (Mario Camerini, 1932) - first Italian film shot entirely on location
- 1860 (Alessandro Blasetti, 1934)
- An Inn in Tokyo (Yasujirō Ozu, 1935)
- Toni (Jean Renoir, 1935)
- The White Ship (Roberto Rossellini, 1941)
- Aniki-Bóbó (Manoel de Oliveira, 1942)
- People of the Mountains (István Szöts) 1942
- Four Steps in the Clouds (Alessandro Blasetti, 1942)
- People of the Po Valley (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1947) - filmed in 1943.
Main works
- Ossessione (Luchino Visconti, 1942)
- Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945)
- Shoeshine (Vittorio De Sica, 1946)
- Paisan (Roberto Rossellini, 1946)
- Germany, Year Zero (Roberto Rossellini, 1948)
- Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)
- The Earth Trembles (Luchino Visconti, 1948)
- Bitter Rice (Giuseppe De Santis, 1949)
- Stromboli (Roberto Rossellini, 1950)
- Bellissima (Luchino Visconti, 1951)
- Miracle in Milan (Vittorio De Sica, 1951)
- Rome 11:00 (Giuseppe De Santis, 1952)
- Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, 1952) — filmed in 1951, but released in 1952. Many film historians date the end of the neorealist movement with the public attacks on the film.
Major figures
- Vittorio De Sica
- Federico Fellini
- Alberto Lattuada
- Roberto Rossellini
- Luchino Visconti
- Giuseppe De Santis
- Cesare Zavattini
See also
- Cinema of Italy
- French New Wave
- Kitchen sink realism (British New Wave)
- Indian New Wave
- Japanese New Wave
- Iranian New Wave
- L.A. Rebellion
- Polish Film School