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Tag: Vittorio de Sica

Umberto D.: Gestures, Simplicity, Love

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A man and his dog sit on a bed

Still from Umberto D. City Lights Film Series co-curator Bruno Dariva considers the emotional resonance and quiet austerity of an Italian neorealist classic. The fourth collaboration between screenwriter Cesare Zavattini and director Vittorio De Sica, Umberto D. is considered by critics and academics to be one of the most important Italian neorealist films. Italian neorealism… Read more »

The Enduring Portability of Bicycle Thieves

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Screenshot from Bicycle Thieves. Ricci and his son Bruno smile at each other, putting sandwiches in their pockets while they get ready for work

Why do some films seem to get endlessly parodied, referenced, and remade decades after their release? Like the sequence of the baby carriage rolling down the steps in 1925’s Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein) or the eponymous “red balloon” of The Red Balloon (Albert Lamorisse, 1956), we see iconography from certain films repeatedly ported into others…. Read more »

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