Night of the Shooting Stars

I loved the opening and it put me in the mood for some wonderful magic realism -- but I didn't get it. There is a awkward disparity between content and style, so this film ought to have taken the story more seriously OR it could've delved more into the surrealism, as they seemed to be the film's more powerful moments.

I like the idea -- kind of a magic realism re-working of Paisa -- but something about the execution bugged me. The ironic detachment creates an air of forced quaintness, and as much as I liked the characters (and the actors), I never got very engaged. The charming scenes were charming, but scenes that should have been moving or tragic mostly left me cold. Also the use of wipes was rather distracting. Still I find it difficult to be too harsh with a film so heartfelt and bittersweet in spirit.

Road movie during the end of the war. Flick is professionally done, a Taviani quality, but eventually the story did not moved me much. Looking forewards to find that certain episode movie (by Taviani bros.) with one of the story of a guy who went crazy during full moon... Actually it's called Kaos (1984) and episode Moon Sickness - haven't seen it in, say, twenty years!

I thought this was a light, comic, magical realist portrait of war. Then people get shot. But I can't tell if the film is taking that seriously (enough). In the end, I found it tonally bizarre and as such, had no real connection to the resolution of the story.

Mostly boring, bad ending, somewhat OK storyline.

A noite de São Lourenço estreava há 40 anos no Festival de Cannes. Quem viu Pai Patrão que também era sob o ponto de vista da violência aos olhos de uma criança talvez se decepcione porque, enquanto aquele era de um realismo brutal, a visão da menina aqui segue os meios da fantasia. Lindíssima. BlurayRip no MakingOff.

The characterisation is rather superficial, and there is something a bit too cute or even schmaltzy about it, but, at the same time, if we accept that it is a presentation of events as recollected by someone who was a small child at the time, then these sins seem more forgivable.

In the best tradition of Italian war movies, Taviani's concentrates on the civilian, human aspect. Unlike classics such as, say, "The Four Days of Naples", it lacks realism. The final act is like a highly contrived take on Miklós Jancsó's "The Red and the White". You can tell the Tavianis want every scene to be poetic and ironic, but it's forced.

Neorealism is, decidedly, not my bag, so it came as a complete surprise to me that I enjoyed this movie as much as I did. There's no accolade that can be heaped upon it that wouldn't apply to it's genre forebears, but somewhere in the images, the faces and voices of the people on screen, the subtle poetry, something far more touching arises. Perhaps it's the fact that the bros. Taviani don't wield realism as a statement, but used it to best represent the contents of the story. Damned if I know.

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