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The Massachusetts review [0025-4878] 43.1 (2002). 89-.
In this translated collection of reviews by Bazin, Rossellini and de Sica are once again examined and contrasted against one another. Bazin makes the argument that Rossellini and de Sica are not truly contradictory in approach but rather "two poles of the same aesthetic school." Part of what linked Rosselli and de Sica, aesthetically speaking, was a commitment to rejecting established categories ("neorealism is a denial of dramatic categories") of acting and directing in order for reality to "reveal its significance solely through appearances" in their respective post-neorealist works. For Bazin, this form of minimalism was a return to a more classical form of dramatics. Indeed, the stripped down nature of Rossellini and de Sica's works can be seen as neorealism returning "full circle to classical abstraction and its generalizing quality."
In discussing the later works of de Sica in particular, Bazin asserts that as a director de Sica is an "accursed" figure. Bazin does not criticize his artistic output, but rather the general lack of public interests in his films. To explain this reversal in de Sica's popularity, Bazin criticizes the younger critics who he says have made it "fashionable to drag de Sica's name through the mud" by categorizing him as a bourgeois director. Bazin does not try to dispute this labeling of de Sica, but rather reiterates de Sica's distinguished place in the Canon of Italian Cinema. Furthermore, Bazin reviews the de Sica film Gold of Naples, a "film of cruelty" that succeeds in showcasing de Sica's unparralled skill as a director and collaborator with Zavattinni.
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tagged Bazin Bicycle_Thieves Cinema Italian Neorealism by colliert ...on 09-JUN-06
tagged Bazin Bicycle_Thieves Cinema Italian Neorealism by colliert ...on 09-JUN-06