#49
Post
by Lemmy Caution » Fri Feb 05, 2010 6:15 am
Just finished Paisan, the only one of the set I hadn't seen.
A very interesting film, even if Marty Scorsese did kind of spoil it for me. I spent the first episode and a half wondering if I'd seen Paisan before. Then I remembered taking an Italian journey with Marty. Anyway, in Paisan, I liked the shifting/wavering focus from Americans to Italians. And Rossellini's structure is clever.
I'm looking forward to good quality Rome OC and Germany YZ, as I've only seen them on Chinese "public domain" editions, supposedly legit iffy editions sold in gov't bookstores for 50% more than the pristine pirate DVDs everywhere else.
At the very start of the video essay (Rome OC), Tag Gallagher does mumble quickly. For the first two sentences I wasn't sure if he spoke English. A couple of rewinds and I caught what he was saying.
After that it's much clearer and I got used to his rhythm and speech.
But they could have used a re-take on those first two sentences.
He does pack a lot in, and the pace felt rushed at times.
A simple example is some of the then and now photos of parts of Berlin. Just no time to take in anything really.
Yes, we all have pause buttons, but the pace could have been less moving-on-now hurry-up don't-dawdle.
Another example: "This is Giuletta Masina's staircase, and this is the first shot Fellini ever directed, and ..."
It's like they told Tag he had 20 minutes for the video essay and he said great 20 minutes on Rome Open City, and they said, well it's, uh, 20 minutes for all three films, so maybe you can just keep it moving and hit the highlights.
Last time I was rushed like that through through Italian culture was in the catacombs of Rome.
Last edited by
Lemmy Caution on Tue Feb 16, 2010 8:00 am, edited 3 times in total.