A beautiful and elegantly simple film about the life and works of Francesco Di Assisi, founder of a religious order that expressed Christianity in a form devoid of materialism but rich in compassion; a faith that the orthodox church, by the time of Francesco's birth in the late 12th century, had long dispensed with. Neorealistic in style and obviously close to Rossellini's heart, this is now acknowledged as one of his greatest masterpieces.
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THE CANTERBURY TALES (1972)
Certification15 Our Rating
The middle part of Pasolini's trilogy of Life is a suitably bawdy adaption of Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales', a series of stories that pretty much wanders through all the 'Seven Sins' and, in particular, the cast of characters sexual peccadillos. Lush and enjoyable.
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WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS (1960)
CertificationPG Our Rating
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs might be Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse's finest hour, a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko, played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine, who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo's very modern post-war Ginza district. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society. A profoundly moving masterpiece.
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