En movimiento: Two Nonauteurist Films, New and Old (PASOLINI & ON THE BEACH)

My column for the April 2016 issue of Caimán Cuadenos de Cine. — J.R.

1. I can easily understand why some of Abel Ferrara’s biggest fans have certain reservations about his Pasolini, available now on a splendid region-B Blu-Ray from the BFI.  Even if it’s a solid step forward from the stultifying silliness of Welcome to New York, it lacks the crazed, demonic poetry of Bad Lieutenant, The Addiction, and New Rose Hotel; most disconcertingly, it’s a responsible, apparently well-researched treatment of one of the most irresponsible of film artists, made by another film artist generally cherished for his own irresponsibility. And stylistically, it’s almost as if Ferrara has moved from being the great-grandson of F.W. Murnau to being the grandson of Vincente Minnelli — although one could argue, more precisely, that this isn’t really an auteur film at all. Yet as a portrait of the great and uncontainable Pier Paolo Pasolini, filtered through the last day of his life –- a day focused on new creative work (a novel in progress and a film in preproduction) as well various other activities, at home and on the street -– it carries an undeniable conviction and emotional authenticity in which the prosaic strengths of Lust for Life may finally be more relevant to this film’s serious ambitions than the poetic flourishes of a Faust or a Tabu. Read more

Lost and Found: Susan Sontag’s UNGUIDED TOUR (1983)

I’ve been trying for years to track down and see Susan Sontag’s fourth and final film, Unguided Tour (1983), and now, quite by accident, I’ve discovered that it’s available online, here. If, like me, you can’t follow the Italian without English subtitles, perhaps the best solution would be to read Sontag’s original story, the final one included in her 1978 collection I, etcetera. [3/6/2016]

A lengthy postscript: Thanks to the generosity of David Heslin and the wonders of the Internet, there are the complete English subtitles:

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<b>UNGUIDED TOUR</b>

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by Susan Sontag

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A tourist city different from

any other.

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Different from Florence.

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Different from Siena.

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Different from Rome.

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Different from Athens.

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Or Dubrovnik.

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Because there’s an imaginary kingdom

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of which this city is the capital.

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of which this city is the centre.

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There was a very dear friend of mine,

an Argentinian film-maker in exile

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who fled to save his skin.