OPEN "THE GOLDEN DOOR"- AT LEAST IT'S A MOVIE
For years, including the current (July l) issue of The pheonix, critics have been talking about the death of Italian cinema. Gone are the days of Fellini, Antonioni, the Taviani brothers, Ermmano Olmi and even Mario Bellochio (whose FISTS IN HIS POCKET is a classic,but whose latest film, THE WEDDING DIRECTOR, is the most recent object of derision.).
But along comes Emanuele Crialese's THE GOLDEN DOOR,(Nuovo Mondo) imported in part by no less august an Italian cinephile than Martin Scorcese. A tale of late l9th century iIrtalian immigration to America, it bears comparison to Jan Troells' THE EMIGRANTS, certainly outdoes this film for seasickness, to the powerful L'AMERICA, about Armeniad refugee/immigrants, and to Elia Kazan's eloquent biographical AMERICA, AMERICA (Scorcese is making a documentary on Kazan)
At the end of the screening I attended, some members of the audience applauded, a rarity at normal filmgoing that I've only encountered at film festivals but I ob served this year at screenings of THE LIVES OF OTHERS. I must admit, that in sitting through the film, I had some difficulty. Characters and their relationships weren't clearly defined. The English woman's (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is not adequately explained (no matter how deliberate that narrative strategy is). We lose sight of whose story it is. And the flights into magical realism (especially the swimming in the river of milk) dn=on't always work. And the weak attempts at post moderism (a Nina Simone soundtrack) are only jarring.
Nevertheless, it is the most purely cinematic Italian movie I've seen in years.
Some of the annoying things about the film come from the fact the it is a rigorous exercise in point of view narration. Nothing we see is outside the perspective of the immigrants. There is little exposition, and, in fact, very little dialogue. Many of the plot points (the Englishwoman, the family relationships) are simply left unexplained.
We never get an establishing shot of the entire ship nor do we get an exterior shot of Ellis Island. Even when the immigrants get a view of New York's high buildings, we see only their reaction, not what they see. On the ship, we get a strong sense of clausrophobia and disconnectedness. We never see them interacting with the ship's crew. The scene when the ship leaves the shore, and for a monent we can't distinguish between who is saying goodbye and who is leaving, is b rialliant.
The magic realism is less like that of the Mexicn film LIKE WATER, LIKE CHOCOLAT) than some of the great moments f Italian cinema. For examble, when the villagers in Fellini's AMARCORD go to see the great ocean liner, larger than life atop a sea of black plastic bags, or that magnificent scene in the Taviani Brothers NIGHT OF THE SHOOTING STARS, where peasants weilding pitchforks all of a sudden become Grecian warriors.
Because it is so rigorus is the use of point of view technique, scenese at Ellis Island like the absurdity of the exams or the matching of mail order brides take on extra power.
In the great tradition i Italian filmmaking, THE GLDEN DOOR is at once a powerfully humanistic film and a magnificent piece of sheer filmmaking.
But along comes Emanuele Crialese's THE GOLDEN DOOR,(Nuovo Mondo) imported in part by no less august an Italian cinephile than Martin Scorcese. A tale of late l9th century iIrtalian immigration to America, it bears comparison to Jan Troells' THE EMIGRANTS, certainly outdoes this film for seasickness, to the powerful L'AMERICA, about Armeniad refugee/immigrants, and to Elia Kazan's eloquent biographical AMERICA, AMERICA (Scorcese is making a documentary on Kazan)
At the end of the screening I attended, some members of the audience applauded, a rarity at normal filmgoing that I've only encountered at film festivals but I ob served this year at screenings of THE LIVES OF OTHERS. I must admit, that in sitting through the film, I had some difficulty. Characters and their relationships weren't clearly defined. The English woman's (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is not adequately explained (no matter how deliberate that narrative strategy is). We lose sight of whose story it is. And the flights into magical realism (especially the swimming in the river of milk) dn=on't always work. And the weak attempts at post moderism (a Nina Simone soundtrack) are only jarring.
Nevertheless, it is the most purely cinematic Italian movie I've seen in years.
Some of the annoying things about the film come from the fact the it is a rigorous exercise in point of view narration. Nothing we see is outside the perspective of the immigrants. There is little exposition, and, in fact, very little dialogue. Many of the plot points (the Englishwoman, the family relationships) are simply left unexplained.
We never get an establishing shot of the entire ship nor do we get an exterior shot of Ellis Island. Even when the immigrants get a view of New York's high buildings, we see only their reaction, not what they see. On the ship, we get a strong sense of clausrophobia and disconnectedness. We never see them interacting with the ship's crew. The scene when the ship leaves the shore, and for a monent we can't distinguish between who is saying goodbye and who is leaving, is b rialliant.
The magic realism is less like that of the Mexicn film LIKE WATER, LIKE CHOCOLAT) than some of the great moments f Italian cinema. For examble, when the villagers in Fellini's AMARCORD go to see the great ocean liner, larger than life atop a sea of black plastic bags, or that magnificent scene in the Taviani Brothers NIGHT OF THE SHOOTING STARS, where peasants weilding pitchforks all of a sudden become Grecian warriors.
Because it is so rigorus is the use of point of view technique, scenese at Ellis Island like the absurdity of the exams or the matching of mail order brides take on extra power.
In the great tradition i Italian filmmaking, THE GLDEN DOOR is at once a powerfully humanistic film and a magnificent piece of sheer filmmaking.
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