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Synopsis
One of the most original and controversial thinkers of the twentieth century, Italian polymath Pier Paolo Pasolini embodied a multitude of often seemingly contradictory ideologies and identities—and he expressed them all in his provocative, lyrical, and indelible films. Relentlessly concerned with society’s downtrodden and marginalized, he elevated pimps, hustlers, sex workers, and vagabonds to the realm of saints, while depicting actual saints with a radical earthiness. Traversing the sacred and the profane, the ancient and the modern, the mythic and the personal, the nine uncompromising, often scandal-inciting features he made in the 1960s still stand—on this, the 101st anniversary of his birth—as a monument to his daring vision of cinema as a form of resistance.
Picture 8/10
The first disc in Criterion’s latest director-focused box set, Pasolini 101, presents Pier Paolo Pasolini’s feature debut, Accattone, on a dual-layer Blu-ray in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1. The 1080p/24hz high-definition presentation is sourced from a new 4K restoration taken from a scan of the 35mm original camera negative.
It’s an impressive restoration delivered through an immaculate digital presentation. Outside of the film’s transitions, where the quality can degrade considerably with the frame jumping around, the film has been cleaned up extensively. The scan has picked up an astounding amount of detail, including the fine grain, with the encode doing an exceptional job in rendering it all out, from the fine textures found on the buildings and landscapes to the intricate knitting on sweaters.
Contrast is exceptional as well, with deep blacks and bright whites. Shots where heavier blacks appear over whites (or vice versa) also appear clean without any signs of blooming, and the grayscale is incredibly wide and blends cleanly, leading to some gorgeous skies. Altogether it’s a striking presentation.
Audio 6/10
The mono Italian soundtrack, presented in lossless single-channel PCM, is acceptable in the end, but that’s about it. As with most Italian productions of the period, the dialogue has been dubbed over, so there can be a detached feel since the audio isn’t always in synch, yet it sounds clear, features adequate range, and the score doesn’t come off harsh or edgy.
Extras 9/10
Accattone starts the set’s features out with Tony Rayns’ 2011 audio commentary recorded for Eureka’s Region B Masters of Cinema edition, with Rayns referencing that label and other Pasolini titles they had released throughout (I believe most, if not all of them have since gone out-of-print). Rayns lays out his goal with the track early on, which is to place the film in the context of Pasolini’s career and the history of Italian cinema in general, and he more than accomplishes that. He does assume that those listening are possibly newcomers to both Pasolini and Italian cinema, at one point even going as far as to explain what “Italian neorealism” is. However, it should still work for those versed well enough in both subjects as he connects the dots from early Italian cinema to neorealism and how that inspired Pasolini to develop his film language. For this latter area, he occasionally studies how Pasolini edits, positions or moves the camera (which usually consists of not moving the camera), and explains how that would have been different from what had come before. He will also talk about Pasolini’s writings and politics, leading him to talk about the filmmaker’s later works through Salo.
(He does mention Love Meetings frequently as well, noting it is included as a feature on this disc. He is referring to the Eureka edition, but the film can be found on the third disc in this set.)
It's an extensive and engaging track and would have been fine enough on its own, but Criterion packs on a couple of more fascinating features, including the newly created Pasolini on Pasolini, with Tilda Swinton and Rachel Kushner reading from Pasolini’s writings about his films. Sadly it’s only specific to the movie in the set. Still, it ends up being particularly rewarding as we hear him work through his ideas and how he would shift his style and focus with each film, even stating at one point that if Toto hadn’t passed away, he probably would have kept making films like The Hawks and the Sparrows (instead, he made Teorema). He also comments on the actors and how he likes to work them and explains how Oedipus Rex is his most autobiographical. It’s ultimately only a sampling of his writings on his work, but it does provide one of the more insightful looks into his working process that I have yet come across. It has been nicely assembled, too.
The disc then closes (alongside the film’s original trailer) with a thorough and intimate portrait of Pasolini through Portrait of Pasolini. The 97-minute program aired as an episode on the French television program Cinéma du notre temps in 1966. I was expecting it to be a simple profile of the filmmaker, going through his work with behind-the-scenes material. Instead, it ends up being an extensive collection of interviews with the director, who talks about, well, just about everything on his mind. This ranges from his politics to his experiences as a poor writer (which he brings up when he takes the crew outside one of his first apartments) to his views on the underclass and the more privileged. He also talks about his writings and film work, explaining how he approaches both (from a poet’s perspective), and even talks a little about Toto, who appeared in a couple of his films. Others also pop up for interviews (including filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci and actor Nineto Davoli), but Pasolini is the star here, and he keeps the piece captivating.
Altogether, the material sets up the rest of the set, providing a primer on the director and his work through Rayns’ commentary and two pieces focused on the director and his early work. It’s a wonderful way to start the set.
Closing
A fantastic start to the set, Criterion packs on features to introduce the filmmaker to viewers while the film receives a sharp new presentation.
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