LMU Homework - Ladri Di Biciclette and Rashomon - 10 and 11 of 15
While I almost immediately loved Rashomon, Ladri di Biciclette slowly grew on me as I realized the profoundness of the Italian neorealism movement.
Ladri Di Biciclette, or Bicycle Thieves, follows the story of a poor man and his stolen bicycle. His son also tags along. Generally it has hardly a plot... just lots of random encounters in Rome... This being the basis for neorealism, its point was to pare down the story and focus in on reality, the situations and walks of life in a truthful, documentary-seeming way. It moved the shooting off the set and into the streets with real people, with real architecture. The man never gets his bike back and is under such increadible pressure because of the poverty following the war and trying to provide for his family, he attempts to steal a bike himself... failing miserably. It ends with a big question mark, which emphasizes the fact that while we are obsessed with the future we have no control or answers to what is going to happen. We just have to live out what life gives us and that's the reality.
With Rashomon, Kurosawa completely questions reality. In this murder-mystery-esque Japanese drama we are told five completely different stories of a man's murder (the only fact we seem to have). All are shown to the audience, who, with artful camera work, seemingly become the interrogators trying to find the truth. Each story is completely different and suits each person's need to defend their honor, except that of the woodcutter, whom at first his story is a lie but then I think the truth finally comes out under the pressure of knowing. But then this again emphasizes that all men seem to be liars, and as the priest fears how can he trust humanity after all of these lies and betrayal.
There are so many great themes in this movie, its just such a smart look into a sort of psychology of man... we lie, we succumb to evils, we are selfish, we blame and yet are guilty, we hope and yet we fear, we trust and yet are skeptical...etc
But I like the way this movies ends, because there's this respect between the priest and the woodcutter that there is hope for some good in people, even if its only a few.
Anyways very interesting movies! :)
Ladri Di Biciclette, or Bicycle Thieves, follows the story of a poor man and his stolen bicycle. His son also tags along. Generally it has hardly a plot... just lots of random encounters in Rome... This being the basis for neorealism, its point was to pare down the story and focus in on reality, the situations and walks of life in a truthful, documentary-seeming way. It moved the shooting off the set and into the streets with real people, with real architecture. The man never gets his bike back and is under such increadible pressure because of the poverty following the war and trying to provide for his family, he attempts to steal a bike himself... failing miserably. It ends with a big question mark, which emphasizes the fact that while we are obsessed with the future we have no control or answers to what is going to happen. We just have to live out what life gives us and that's the reality.
With Rashomon, Kurosawa completely questions reality. In this murder-mystery-esque Japanese drama we are told five completely different stories of a man's murder (the only fact we seem to have). All are shown to the audience, who, with artful camera work, seemingly become the interrogators trying to find the truth. Each story is completely different and suits each person's need to defend their honor, except that of the woodcutter, whom at first his story is a lie but then I think the truth finally comes out under the pressure of knowing. But then this again emphasizes that all men seem to be liars, and as the priest fears how can he trust humanity after all of these lies and betrayal.
There are so many great themes in this movie, its just such a smart look into a sort of psychology of man... we lie, we succumb to evils, we are selfish, we blame and yet are guilty, we hope and yet we fear, we trust and yet are skeptical...etc
But I like the way this movies ends, because there's this respect between the priest and the woodcutter that there is hope for some good in people, even if its only a few.
Anyways very interesting movies! :)
Labels: ladri di biciclette, lmu homework, movie review, rashomon
posted by cinemadolce at
11:34 PM
1 Comments:
oh nice text! "Ladri Di Biciclette" is a really awesome movie... I liked it so much... as you know I love documentaries, then I'm also a neorealism fanatic =P... try to say some germany movies from the same period. You will see all those sentiments you wrote down there.
and I like kurosawa films hahah he is fantastic !
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