Nights of Cabiria

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 6/12/09 w/ Additional Edits.

Directed by Federico Fellini with a script by Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano, and Pier Paolo Pasolini based on an original story by Maria Molinari. Le notti di Cabiria (Nights of Cabiria) tells the story of a prostitute working at the seedy Ostia section of Rome who searches for love but fails as she is taken advantage and such. When she meets and fall for a man of respectability, things seem to be promising until she becomes humiliated in a series of events. Starring Fellini's wife Giulietta Masina, Francois Perier, Franca Marzi, Dorian Gray, Aldo Silvani, and Ennio Girolami. Le notti di Cabiria is a whimsical, charming, and heartbreaking masterpiece from Federico Fellini.

After being pushed into a river and having her pursed stolen where she nearly drowned, Cabiria (Giuletta Masina) is upset that her lover Giorgio (Franco Fabrizi) has left with her purse leaving her with nothing. After being saved from drowning by boys and fellow locals, she is still angry that another man has taken advantage of her where a fellow prostitute name Wanda (Franca Marzi) warns her not to get too attached. After burning Giorgio's things, Cabiria goes to work as a prostitute where along with Wanda and a friend and their pimp Amleto (Ennio Girolami). She gets into a fight with a rival while going into the city with a couple of friends to go into the rivaling section that included richer, better-looking prostitutes. Walking outside of a posh apartment, she sees a famous actor named Alberto Lazzari (Amedeo Nazarri) who was having an argument with his girlfriend Jessie (Dorian Gray). Upset and wanting to go out, he takes Cabiria to a club and later, to his home where she gets an autograph and almost ate dinner with him until Jessie returns where Cabiria was sneaked to sleep in his bathroom.

The next night, Cabiria goes on assignment again where waiting at the corner with Wanda, Amleto, and Amleto's crippled uncle (Mario Passante). They encounter a group of churchgoers walking barefoot as Cabiria is picked up by a truck driver. Lost in a cavern area, she meets a generous man giving food and things away to homeless people where she starts to question her own life. After attending a church service with friends as they are among a group of desperate people wanting a miracle from the Madonna. For Cabiria, it becomes a frustrating experience feeling nothing has changed where she finds herself at a vaudeville stage where a magician (Aldo Silvani) performs some tricks. After hypnotizing her for a trick where it is believed she will meet a man named Oscar, she finds herself confused.

After the performance, she bumps into an accountant named D'Onofrio (Francois Perier) who is charmed by what she saw. Revealing his first name to be Oscar, Cabiria isn't sure if he can be trustful but after a few dates. He seems to be the man for her where she suddenly finds herself engaged. With the prospect of a bright future, Cabiria seems to get her miracle until old feelings of being hurt again are unveiled.

The film is essentially the story of a naive yet feisty woman seeking a change for her life following a series of humiliating moments. Really, it's a character-driven film that allows the character of Cabiria to go into a series of adventures and mis-adventures that would allow her to want to make some changes. What Fellini and his co-writers create is a film that is a bit of an adventure but of a human kind. The character of Cabiria is truly complex since on the outside, she's a woman who is brash, arrogant, and willing to be playful. Yet, she is also vulnerable, not willing to listen to reason, and somewhat of a dreamer.

The development of character and the structure of the story clearly sets up scenarios for Cabiria. The first act follows Cabiria from the opening scene where she's pushed to a river where she nearly drowned to her meeting with a famous film actor. The second act is about the moment she meets a mysterious man giving away food and things to her own spiritual crisis following a Catholic ceremony that leaves her disillusioned. The third act is about Cabiria's encounter with a magician and her meeting with Oscar D'Onofrio. Despite all of these traumas, all of the humiliation, and all of the struggles she faces. She picks herself up and keeps on walking. All of these events and encounters would help shape the development of Cabiria that is filled with stylish, playful dialogue from co-writer Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Fellini's direction is truly mesmerizing from its striking compositions of scenes in and out of Rome to the emotional shots he creates for some of the film's dramatic moments. Fellini's camera is truly engaging in the exterior, ruined locations of the poor sections of Rome to the richer, chaotic, crowded world of downtown Rome as it shows a contrast of the different worlds that Cabiria lives in. Yet, there's something lavish and stylized in the scenes Fellini creates as he invites the audience into some parties or some kind of event that is truly powerful. Even the church service scene that has a group of people desperate for the power of Madonna hoping for some kind of miracle. The camera is amongst the crowd while the hypnotizing scene where Cabiria dances and such on a hypnotic state has something beautiful. The zoom shots and close-ups are done with such subtle emotion, even the final shot of the film as it's clear that Fellini is becoming more engaging in his direction and capturing the soul of its characters. The result is a film that shows Fellini starting to find his style as a director.

Cinematographer Aldo Tonti does some spectacular work with the film's black-and-white shots to complement the contrasting worlds that Cabiria ventures. From the bright, wide shots of the place and area that Cabiria lives to the crowded look of Rome. The exterior daytime photography is very bright and colorful while a lot of the nighttime exteriors is very beautiful with some great shading and compositions that are truly rich. The interior shots of the club and house that Cabiria goes to with the actor is also enchanting in its bright look and gorgeous shading for the nighttime scene in the actor's bathroom. Editor Leo Cattozzo does some fantastic work with the film's straightforward edits with wonderful transition cuts with the use of dissolves and fade-outs to help structure the story in its scene and acts.

Production/costume designer Piero Gherardi does great work in the look of the home of the actor, Cabiria's house, and most of all. The church filled with lots of Catholic images including a statue of the Madonna. Gherardi's work in the costume is wonderful with the clothes and look for Cabiria along with the stylized look for her friends including more posh looks from the actor, his girlfriend, and Oscar. The sound work of Oscar Di Santo and Roy Mangano is excellent for capturing the chaotic atmosphere of Rome, the hollow sounds of the corner Cabiria works at, and the raucous world of the church. One of the film's great technical achievements is its whimsical, playful score by Nino Rota, a key collaborator of Fellini's. Rota's score is filled with arrangements that play with various emotions whether it's a rumba sound or upbeat for Cabiria's mood or something sad with more melancholic pieces led by the piano and strings. Rota's score is truly mesmerizing with pieces that are memorable.

The cast is phenomenal with some memorable small roles from Maria Luisa Rolando and Loretta Capitoli as a couple of prostitutes while Franco Fabrizi is good as the man who pushed Cabiria into a river. Other small roles with appearances from Dorian Gray as the moody girlfriend of actor Alberto Lazzari, Amedeo Nazarri as the charming but bored Alberto Lazzari, Ennio Girolami as Cabiria's pimp Amleto, Mario Passante as Amleto's crippled uncle, and as the magician, Aldo Silvani. In the role of Cabiria's fellow prostitute and friend Wanda, Franca Marzi is great as the big yet realistic woman who helps Cabiria in every thing that happens while being the supportive friend. In the role of Oscar, Francois Perier is excellent as the charming man who offers kindness while being the guy who seems likes the perfect man and such.

Finally, there's Giuletta Masina in what is truly one of cinema's most dazzling performances as Cabiria. Masina's performance is full of such complex emotions as when she's up, she is a person full of life. Can do things very spontaneously while in dances, she moves to the beat of her own drum. When she's down, she's dramatic and angry where she'll get into fights or be extremely emotional. It's a tour-de-force performance from the wife of Federico Fellini who is clearly the heart and soul of the film as her performance is truly one of a kind.

Le notti di Cabiria is a whimsical yet character-driven film from Federico Fellini thanks in parts to the wonderful, engaging performance of Giuletta Masina. Audiences new to Fellini will see this as a nice place to start while it is considered essential in both Fellini's great film library as well as one of the most beloved films of European cinema. With a great film score by Nino Rota and wonderful images, it's a film that is truly entertaining while featuring a protagonist who has a spirit that is truly mesmerizing. In the end, Le notti di Cabiria is a brilliant yet heart-wrenching film from Federico Fellini.

Federico Fellini Films: (Variety Lights) - The White Sheik - (L'amore in Citta-Un'agenzia matrimoniale) - I, Vitelloni - La Strada - Il bidone - La Dolce Vita - (Boccaccio '70-Le tentazioni del Dottor Antonio) - 8 1/2 - Juliet of the Spirits - Histoires extraordinaires-Toby Dammmit - (Fellini: A Director's Notebook) - Fellini Satyricon - (I Clowns) - Roma - Amarcord - Casanova - Orchestra Rehearsal - City of Women - And the Ship Sails On - Ginger and Fred - (Intervista) - (The Voice of the Moon)

© thevoid99 2012

Le Samourai

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 1/13/10 w/ Extensive Revisions.

One of the key figures of French cinema, Jean-Pierre Melville was one of the first film directors to create films outside of studios and through his own means. A major influence to the French New Wave movement, Melville's idea to shoot on real locations was something different to his work in comparison to the French films being made during the 1950s. In the 1960s, he was revered by many as making acclaimed films throughout the decade. One of them would be considered one of his finest which featured of France's best actors of that time in Alain Delon entitled Le Samourai (The Samurai).

Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and based on the novel The Ronin by Joan McLeod. Le Samourai tells the story of a hitman who lives by a strict code of rules and maintains a certain form of perfection in his job. During an assignment where something goes wrong as he finds himself in trouble. Adapted into script by Melville and Georges Pellegrin, the film is a mixture of 1940s American crime films with 1960s French New Wave style along with the mythology of the Japanese samurai as Alain Delon plays the title character. Also starring Francois Perier, Nathalie Delon, and Cathy Rosier. Le Samourai is a smart, hypnotic, and stylish thriller from Jean-Pierre Melville.

Jef Costello (Alain Delon) is a hitman that lives in an apartment with a little caged bird that's based on a strict lifestyle from the ideas of the samurai. For one particular assignment, Costello steals a car with his set of keys to find which one to start the car as he goes to a secret place to get a gun, money, and a new license plate for the job. After visiting his girlfriend Jane (Nathalie Delon) to create an alibi of where he was at between 7PM and 2AM as he goes to a nightclub to kill its owner. He succeeds only to be seen by the nightclub's pianist Valerie (Cathy Rosier) as he is suddenly pursued by the police and caught. Despite having no criminal record, the police superintendent (Francois Perier) believes that Costello fits the description of the assassin.

During a line-up description where Valerie attends, the bartender (Robert Favart) and a couple of witnesses claim it's Costello as Jane is asked to come to the police station. Yet, Jane's former lover Weiner (Michel Boisron) claims to have seen someone fitting Costello's description at an apartment at around 1:45 AM as Costello was let go due to lack of evidence. While the superintendent decides to have Costello followed, Costello decides to meet his employer (Jacques Leroy) at a bridge where things go wrong as he is aware that he's followed. Costello hopes to meet Valerie into why she didn't say anything as an attraction ensues.

With the superintendent hoping to catch Costello by placing a bug in his apartment, Costello goes on the search for the man his employer is working for as paranoia starts to happen. Based on evidence found at Costello's apartment, the superintendent and his men question Jane who realizes that something is wrong. With the cops tailing him and a man wants him for a new contract to kill someone, Costello makes a move where he would get himself in the clear.

The film is a tribute of sorts to 1940s gangster films where the character of Jef Costello has a look that is very 1940s with a Fedora hat, a suit, and trench coat. Yet, with its French New Wave aesthetics and a tone that is similar to Japanese cinema. It's a film that definitely transcends various styles while taking a genre and turning into something that is very different from what audiences would expect in a thriller. It doesn't have a lot of action nor does it have any fast-building moments of suspense. It's a film that takes it time like the character of Jef Costello does in planning things out.

The screenplay that Jean-Pierre Melville and Georges Pellegrin create is definitely inspired by the works of Japanese cinema. Notably the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa where the film begins with a fictional quote that is attributed from The Book of Bushido. It is in that quote where audiences get to know who Jef Costello is for the first 10 minutes which almost has no dialogue at all. A man who lives a certain lifestyle. Not with a lot in his apartment and by a strict code of rules. A perfectionist who does his job and that is it. He creates alibis, steal cars with set of keys that where he needs to find the right one. Go somewhere far away from the city of Paris to get a gun, a bit of money, and the license plate removed.

Then when a mistake happens when he is suddenly seen, everything goes to hell and tries to get himself out of trouble only to realize he's in a whole lot of trouble from both the cops and the people who hired him to kill a man. At the same time, there's a police superintendent who is an antagonist of sorts but is one with morals and lives by his own set of rules. Knowing that he Jef Costello could be the killer of the nightclub owner, he does what he has to do to get the truth. Even if he has to harass a young woman with threats and a chance to have her name cleared up. The script is about what men will do for their own means as it's really a battle of wits between two very disciplined men.

Melville's direction is definitely full of stylish shots and striking compositions to give the film a tone that is quiet and hypnotic. The first ten minutes is nearly dialogue free until Jef comes to Jane's apartment where she only says his name near the 10 minute mark. A lot of what happens is just Jef Costello doing what he's doing in preparation for what he's going to do. Yet, there's not much dialogue that Jef Costello says throughout as he remains this stoic persona who maintains his cool unless he gets into some trouble where he makes some moves of his own. Melville's camera is always on something from the shot of objects to establishing shots that would prove to be crucial to the story and what is going to happen. Even in scenes where there's great tracking shots that move slowly to what Costello is doing or what is going on around him. The result is Melville maintaining a sense of style and wit into his direction that works to the fullest.

Cinematographer Henri Decae does an amazing job with the film's colorful look with the dark look of Jef's apartment to the bright colors of the apartments where Valerie and Jane stays in. The exterior look of Paris is often filled with low lights depending on its mood which plays up to what Melville needed while the scenes in the police station are shot with a sense of claustrophobia and lights that conveys a far chilling mood. Decae's work is truly superb in its lighting schemes and camera movements for what Melville needed. The editing by Monique Bonnot and Yolande Maurette is great in its slow yet methodical pacing for the first act of the film to more fast-paced cuts in some of the film's action sequences. With the use of rhythmic jump-cuts to keep some of the momentum going, one of the film's striking moments in the editing is the use of side-wipe transitions which is definitely a tribute to the work of Akira Kurosawa, who is famous for those transitions as the editing works in maintaining its sense of style.

The production design/set decoration work of Francois de Lamothe is brilliant for its mood and personalities of where the characters live in. From the dark yet open-space look of Jef's apartment to the stark yet clean look of the police station and office. The art direction and set design is truly fascinating while the look of the club in its clean, glamour look is the epitome of cool but also something that isn't entirely accessible. The sound editing of Robert Pouret is excellent for its sense of atmosphere from the tense feel of the police station to the chaotic work that is Paris in its trains and the city itself. The nightclub scenes are presented in an intimate fashion with jazz music playing in the background throughout. The music score of Francois de Roubaix is wonderful for its jazzy feel with its sense of melancholia and nightclub rhythms that keeps the momentum going in some places while it is mostly played for a calm, suspenseful feel.

The casting is superb with some memorable small roles from Andre Salgues as a garage keeper, Michel Boisrond as Jane's other lover Weiner, Robert Favart as the nightclub's barkeeper, Catherine Jourdan as a hatcheck counter at the club, Jacques Leroy as an employer of Jef, and Jean-Pierre Rossier as the man who ordered the hit on the nightclub owner. Cathy Rosier is very good as Valerie, a jazz-pianist who is smitten by Jef while being the only real witness to see what had happened as she is very understated throughout the film. Nathalie Delon is also good as Jane, Jef's secret lover who maintains his alibi while being very cool when she is being confronted by the police superintendent.

Francois Perier is great as the superintendent who suspects Jef Costello while trying to do all the he can with some rules to catch the guy. Perier is often very calm and at times, plays it cool a bit in his scene with Nathalie Delon as it is definitely remarkable role for the late, great actor. Finally, there's Alain Delon in what is definitely one of his most iconic performances as Jef Costello. Though restrained for the most part and not with a lot of dialogue to speak. Delon's stoic performance is nothing short of cool as he maintains a sense of discipline and charisma to his character. It is definitely one of Delon's finest work of his career.

Released in 1967, the film was considered to be one of Jean-Pierre Melville's finest work. The film would have such an influence on young filmmakers that several paid tribute to the film in various ways. John Woo payed tribute to it with his 1989 film The Killer while he would end up writing an essay for the film's 2005 Criterion release. In 1999, Jim Jarmusch paid tribute to Melville and the film with his own samurai-style hitman story called Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai with Forest Whitaker's character maintaining the same code of rules and a set of keys just like the Jef Costello character.

Le Samourai is a cool, stylish film from Jean-Pierre Melville featuring a phenomenal performance from Alain Delon. Fans of hitman stories and stylish thrillers will no doubt enjoy this film while it also serves as a worthy introduction to the works of both Jean-Pierre Melville and Alain Delon. It's a film that kind of gets to a slow start at first but once the audience gets into it, it become a whole, worthwhile experience. In the end, Le Samourai is a fantastic, unconventional film from Jean-Pierre Melville.

Jean-Pierre Melville Films: 24 Hours in the Life of a Clown - Le silence de la mer - Les Enfants Terribles - (When You Read This Letter) - Bob le Flambeur - (Two Men in Manhattan) - (Leon Morin, pretre) - (Le Doulos) - Magnet of Doom - Le deuxieme souffle - Army of Shadows - Le Cercle rouge - (Un flic)

© thevoid99 2011