The Elegiac Heart: Pier Paolo Pasolini, Filmmaker
With a divided self that reflected the fissures in his country in the wake of World War II, the most courageous and dangerous Italian artist of his generation transcended dogma and resisted affiliations.
Tokyo Olympiad: The Wind Passing Through the Flagpoles
Kon Ichikawa aimed to show “the sweat” and “the pathos” of athletic ambition in this monumental documentary, the most extravagant Olympic film to date.
Teorema: Just a Boy
Pier Paolo Pasolini’s seemingly irreconcilable allegiances to Marx, Freud, and Jesus Christ come to the fore in this radical provocation, which marks the midway point of the polymathic artist’s filmmaking career.
Panique: Panic Attack
Upon returning to France after a period of self-exile in Hollywood, Julien Duvivier adapted a Georges Simenon novel into this noirish critique of the dangers of mob mentality during wartime.
Muriel, or The Time of Return: Ashes of Time
Time is both inescapable and irretrievable in Alain Resnais’s boldly disorienting masterpiece, which stars Delphine Seyrig as a widow haunted by her memories of World War II.
Scatterbrained Angel: The Films of Jacques Tati
Though he emerged from established stage and screen comedy traditions, Tati invented a completely new filmic language.
Intentions of Murder: Eros and Civilization
The Face of Another: Double Vision
Hiroshi Teshigahara’s late work is a masterful amalgam of high international modernism and traditional Japanese fine arts.