• The Criterion Files

    The Criterion Files: Rome, Open City

     Rome, Open City: Directed by: Roberto Rossellini Written by: Federico Fellini, Sergio Amidei Starring: Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani, Marcello Pagliero Cinematography by: Ubaldo Arata Music by: Renzo Rossellini Released: September 27th, 1945 Neorealist cinema has featured into the Criterion Files before– I wrote about Vittorio De Sica’s classic entry in the movement, Bicycle Thieves, much earlier this year (and followed that piece up with an examination of Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah, arguably a contemporary neorealist effort despite valid arguments that neorealist cinema no longer exists)– but Rossellini’s landmark contribution to neorealism, Rome, Open City, represents a very different side of that Italian-born aesthetic. For all of its somber qualities, Bicycle Thieves…