IslandGuru Who payed the critics

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

christopher-underwood Roberto Rossellini and the neorealists may have influenced the French nouvelle vague but that movement was in the early 60s to supplant it at the forefront of international cinema. Before the Revolution is a key film in this change, certainly in Italy. There is mention and acknowledgement to the earlier master but the imagery and the mix of long almost static shots and frantic hand held close-ups tell of dramatic ongoing changes. The beautiful Adriana Asti plays Gina, the aunt of Fabrizio played by Francesco Barilli. She is supposed to be some 10 years older, does not look it, but actually is, in reality. She is 33, he 21 and the young director only 22 would marry her, in reality. The director and male lead are also both from Parma, the wonderful looking city in which the film is set. A portentous film in many ways, apart from the personal ripples there is the political dimension with ties being loosened with the communist party and the nebulous seeming search for a new tomorrow, even if our hero proclaims a 'nostalgia for the present', that would lead to the looming cultural revolution of the late 60s.

Jackson Booth-Millard From director Bernardo Bertolucci (The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor), I found this Italian film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I hoped I would agree with the four stars out of five that critics gave it, so I watched it and hoped for the best. Basically the film tells the story of teenager Fabrizio (Francesco Barilli), he is a young man nearing adulthood, he is a passionate and idealistic youth who lives with his aunt. Cesare (Morando Morandini), a teacher and Marxist who is engaged to lovely but bourgeois Clelia (Cristina Pariset), Cesare influences many of Fabrizio's decisions, and Fabrizio is still grieving for the death, possibly suicide, of his volatile friend Agostino (Allen Midgette). Following Agostino's funeral Fabrizio begins a love affair with alternately sweet, seductive, poetic, distracted and unhinged Gina (Adriana Asti), but then she swings the other way and sleeps with a stranger. They visit Cesare often, and Gina's older landowner friend Puck (Cecrope Barilli), their futures seem to be bleak with the relationship problems, losing land and much more, and this contrasts with what is going on with Italy and the country's future. Also starring Domenico Alpi as Fabrizio's father and Amelia Bordi as Fabrizio's mother. I have to be honest that I only vaguely paid attention to the story within the more serious stuff going on, and I found it hard to concentrate on the majority of the film's material, and not just because of having to read subtitles, I don't think I would watch it again to try and understand it better, I know it is not a bad political drama. Worth watching, in my opinion!

captain_dimpf It's strange to think that Bertolucci was only 23 when he did this film, but then it makes perfect sense cause the story loosely centers around a young man approaching adulthood. It's even stranger to realize that only 8 years later he directed 'The Last Tango in Paris' where his protagonist already experiences his midlife crises. Back in 1964 Bertolucci's main interest was not story telling but rather to find a new visual language to portray his generation. Heavily influenced by the Nouvelle Vague, Godard in particular, that he even mentions at some length here, Bertolucci is eager to break with as many (cinematographic) conventions as possible, but the imagery he develops in the process is so beautiful that this is a delight to watch from beginning to end. Also it serves as a reminder that there was actually a time when there seemed to be an alternative to capitalism, though the revolution is only talked about. The whole thing works like a kaleidoscope or mosaic of the time. At first I had trouble to follow the plot because scenes don't necessarily respond to each other in a cause and effect kinda way but once I realized that an ongoing story is not what this is about I was able to relax and enjoy the scenery even more. And though our heroes suffer from first signs of disillusion, back then everything seemed possible, whether it was changing our society or changing the aesthetics of cinema. What interesting times.

zetes Before the Revolution, Bernardo Bertolucci's second film, is kind of a mess. He was only 22 when he made it, and he must have made it immediately after he finished his first film, Grim Reaper. It's obvious that he's a genius from this film. Like I said, it's kind of a mess, but no more beautiful mess has ever been created in the cinema.The story is difficult to follow at times, but it is basically about a young bourgeois man who falls in love with his young aunt. Their relationship is socially unacceptable, so it immediately begins to break apart. As it does, politics rush into the film, confused politics, probably representing Bertolucci's own conflicting feelings at this point. The whole film feels very personal.I don't know. I really didn't catch too much of, well, what's going on. Which sounds bad, but there's a good reason for my missing everything: Bertolucci's direction is breathtaking. It is a nice cross between French New Wave and the Modernist movement that the Italian filmmakers were going through at the time. Bertolucci throws every single cinematic trick into the film that he can fathom. Everything works, though. It's showy, to be sure, but it's never less than one of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced. It never seems less than amazing. The emotions of the film - and they really hit home, even if the story is difficult to follow - are fractured and manic.I need to watch Before the Revolution again. I feel, though, that even if I find it completely flawed the second time around, it could be nothing less than the greatest flawed masterpiece ever produced. 10 years after Before the Revolution, Bernardo Bertolucci directed what I consider my third favorite film, Last Tango in Paris. By then, he had perfected his style. I'll be adding another Bertolucci film to my list of favorites tonight.