Alex and Jonathan say ciao to America this week as we embark on the first stage of our new ten-week World Tour series! Our first stop is Italy where we take a look at the Italian neorealism films Rome, Open City (1945) and Bicycle Thieves (1948) and the post-neorealism film 8 1/2 (1963). We talk about the effect of World War II on filmmaking, silver linings in otherwise pessimistic films, and self-referential films.

Skip to:

7:39 - Rome, Open City

24:53 - Bicycle Thieves

42:25 - 8 1/2

1:02:46 - Overall

1:16:23 - Coming Attractions

Coming Attractions:

The 400 Blows (1959)

Breathless (1960)

Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962)

For more information, visit the blog:

thefilmlings.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/italia-infelice