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"I Vitelloni"... it's hard to get more poetic than this

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Victor Khomenko

I haven's seen it in years, so tonight I finally put that tape in the machine - my wife was temporarily tired of all those politics on TV.
Watching it, I kept thinking about why some films stay with you, while others become dated and lose interest quickly.
I Vitelloni is from the first group... the Clockwork Orange - the second. One film will forever remain a timeless study of human soul, and the other... a pretentious and dated opus, too gratuitous to have any REAL staying power.
Time is merciless, and it sorts the nuggets from sand with deadly precision, but what is left will be with you forever.
You feel almost physical pain and withdrawal when the movie ends - you feel that a part of you has suddenly been cut off, so powerful is its grip, its subtle and oh-so-gentle one, with the usual haunting score and not a single false note either in image or sound.
The tape I hape has awful quality, and I have not been able to locate any better one, so the subs disappear at times, but enough is still there to make you feel you touched the truly big art.
Patrick was supposed to see Rules of the Game tonight. I am envious. I also only have a lousy tape of that one - time to invest in Criterion disc.
After all, what's $27 today? A cost of a trip for two to see the Lord of the Ring.
So, how was it, Petia?

Follow Ups:

Welp, like I said, - rhizomatic 10:38:12 01/28/04 (0)
there's a new print making the rounds, so maybe it'll find its way to disc.
I'm going up to Chicago to see it, but they're also showing it at my alma mater around the same time, on their dinky screen. If it's showing there, it could show anywhere. Maybe you should check out nearby universities with good film programs to see if it's due to show anywhere...The subs are prolly brushed up as well, as tends to be the case with fresh new prints.

_____________________________
"What is this, a freak-out?"
- Violet Beauregard
Re: La Regle du Jeu----------Or the tragedy of the comedy------ - patrickU 08:40:02 01/28/04 (2)
I will certainly not waste your & my time for making a typo of this film.. it has been made 10.000 times.
But quite a few remarks : This film is incredibly modern, the photographies has aged ( save one scene in the car accident ), the soundtrack more so, the actor�s playing too.
BUT the spirit in it has not take only one wrinkle. Not one. I am baffle at his modernism!
If you look at Gosford Park ( a film not without charms, think only of Smith..) is pale compare to it.
Somehow it reminds me of Dante�s " Divine Comedie ".
Don�t ask me why.
Critrion has donne the definitive job I think, As good as it could with the original for ever been destroyed in a Paris bombing ( WHY... WHY must it be this film? ) in the last war.
I will explore it all, later.
- Re: La Regle du Jeu----------Or the tragedy of the comedy------ - Victor Khomenko 09:07:54 01/28/04 (1)
  I presume you mean it aged well - the word "well" is missing from the sentence, but your reaction obviously suggests enthusiasm.
  I tried to watch the Gosford Park several time - for some reason one of the cable channels has been showing it almost continuously - but never could get into its spirit, so dropped out each time.
  I will be bying the Rules DVD shortly.
  - Re: La Regle du Jeu----------Or the tragedy of the comedy------ - patrickU 09:39:50 01/28/04 (0)
    No, the physical quality of the picture has aged and the camera is relatively stativ ( not really inventive oppose to, say Murnau or Lang or Orson�s )
    Gosford is a failure but a good..one. All turn wrong with the entrance of the inspector ( Fry ) not because of him, but of the script.
    It could have been a masterpiece..Too bad for us!
    Yes, every one should get this film.
And bad poetry, at that. Is this the magnum opus where a bunch of neanderthal - tinear 06:22:56 01/28/04 (3)
lowlifes in t-shirts slouch around a table endlessly muttering? A movie about a crime family where hours of dialogue creep by---and starring that transfixing, emotive cauldron of action---Alain Delon?
Yeah, this is "poetic"---in the same way as the sentiments one reads on toilet stalls.
(Sorry if I'm confusing with another movie (:=))
- Utterly confused liberal mind - Victor Khomenko 07:19:19 01/28/04 (2)
  Not even close, buddy. I am not sure what you are talking about, but perhaps Rocco and his Brothers? In that case it is also a great film... but then perhaps you mean something completely different... as Delon played in many bad films too.
  No, no Delon in I Vitelloni. It is about several friends conducting mostly meaningless lives in a small Italian town, trying to get out.
  - Well, c'mon, not UTTERLY confused, I - tinear 07:35:08 01/28/04 (1)
    did get the right country of origin, at least?
    Yeah, the "poetic" film I meant WAS "Rocco." Pure, undiluted, unrefined, 100% Italian kaka.
    (I Vit is one film I've always wanted to--- but for some reason never have---seen.)
    - Re: Well, c'mon, not UTTERLY confused, I - Victor Khomenko 07:50:14 01/28/04 (0)
      I don't see Rocco as kaka at all, it is not the strongest film, but it ain't kaka in my view, and Delon's performance there is wonderful.
      I Vitelloni is hard to find, I don't see any available on the usual sites. I don't remember where I got my copied tape, that was years ago.
      However, they are there on ebay, and for reasonable prices. There are two of them now on sale, one with no bids at $9.99.
      Wow! If you don't take it I might.

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