Sunday August 5th 2012, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema, Before The Revolution (1964),
Prima Della Rivoluzione, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, 115 minutes, In Italian with English subtitles, high-definition screening.
Screened by guest programmer Jeffrey Babcock, starts at 8pm.
This rarely seen vital and elegant second feature film by Bertolucci (Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Sheltering Sky) is considered by most to be his first masterpiece. Its best to forget Bertolucci’s later detour into Hollywood and getting lost in huge financial productions…his earliest films are more tight, more poetic and more honest. Before the Revolution was made when he was only 23. It shows that he was already a visionary filmmaker and its closer to the first films of the French New Wave than it is to the bloated star-studded spectacles he was involved in years later. Having said that, I also have to say that it remains one of his most stylish films.
Set in the city of Parma, the film is about a young man at a crossroads. He can either carry on in his comfortable middle class life, or make choose for something more radical. The film is a ravishingly cinematic piece of work, with amazing b/w camerawork by Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now) and a soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. And this will be a visually stunning full HD screening.
One viewer’s comment: Bertolucci’s flame burned intensely at the early age of 23 and he created this perfect film. Then sadly his flame burned out and every single film from then on- including 1900 and Last Tango and even the Conformist and reaching his nadir with Luna- fails. The intelligence and the perfection of emotion that Bertolucci brings to this story are exquisite and miraculous. Teeming with filmic allusions, Revolution is vibrantly shot, scored and edited, yet permeated by a mood of disenchantment.
Film night at Joe’s Garage, nice, warm and cozy cinema! Doors open at 20:30, film begins at 21:00, free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net
