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The Clash of Italian Neorealism and Classical Hollywood

Oct 29, 2015 | 831 videos
Video by :: kogonada

"What is neorealism?" asks the filmmaker kogonada in this excellent video essay, created for the May 2013 issue of Sight & Sound magazine. He examines two 1952 films that resulted from the collaboration of Vittorio De Sica, a master of Italian neorealism, and David O. Selznick, the Hollywood producer behind Gone With The Wind. It's the same movie material, created in two different styles. He explores De Sica's lingering shots that are archetypal of neorealism and juxtaposes them with Selznick's cuts of the same scenes, where the in-between moments are seen as gratuitous or distracting. "A cut reveals what matters and what doesn’t. To examine the cuts of a filmmaker is to uncover an approach to cinema," kogonada says.

To see more of kogonada's work, visit his website and Twitter. He is currently working on a piece that will be included in the Criterion Collection's release of Inside Llewyn Davis, involving a conversation between T Bone Burnett and the Coen Brothers.

Via Daniel Lombroso

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Author: Nadine Ajaka

About This Series

A showcase of cinematic short documentary films, curated by The Atlantic.