My Voyage to Italy
Director:
Martin Scorsese
Year: 1999
Rating: 8.0
When the day comes that Martin Scorsese dies they will cut open his cadaver
and find a reel of 35 millimeter film inside him of one of his favorite films.
The guy breathes film and has from his childhood. It feels like he has seen
everything from everywhere and remembers it. I have seen a ton of films but
most of them have disappeared in the mists of my memory. A few years back
I saw his exploration of American film A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese
Through American Movies and it was terrific. This time around is his look
at the cinema of Italy. Well that isn't really correct because there is tons
of Italian films, genres and directors that he doesn't touch on. What? No
Hercules films? Or Bava and Argento? Nope. Spaghetti Westerns? Not a chance.
He focuses almost entirely on the five directors who he feels most connected
to and whose films influenced him.
Roberto Rossellini, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Vittorio De
Sica and Luchino Visconti. He goes into great depth on all five discussing
specific films at length. For me it was a good education because I will confess
to knowing little of Italian cinema and even less about these five. I have
seen some Fellini and a touch of De Sica. I have stayed away from neo-realism
like a burning stove with a few exceptions - The Bicycle Thief and um and
hmmm. That would be it. I am not entirely sure how much I want to delve into
these films to be truthful - a few look fascinating like The Garden of the
Fitzi-Conti's by De Sica and Senso by Visconti - maybe Open City and Paisan
by Rossellini but Antonioni - no thanks. These are movies for young people
who want to love and get into film. I generally just want to be entertained
at this point in my life. But everyone should know about these films.
