Popular reviews

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  Review by Jon M.

  In the absence of anywhere else to write this, I'll put it here. I've been obsessed in the last three weeks with this painting of Christ and the woman of Samaria, finished sometime before 1504 by Juan de Flandes after the mathematical revolution in perspective by Masaccio and before, or slightly parallel to, the gaudiness of the High Renaissance. This painting sits somewhere between these two points, and is simpler than what was standard for either (in fact it reminds me most of all of the scene opening Casa de Lava where the doctor hangs an IV on a nearby tree). What is striking is that the painting maintains the general aesthetic credo of the Renaissance, designed around a simple…

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  Review by Those Eyebrows

  men will literally cut down the tallest fir tree on the mountain, prune and sand it down to a smooth finish, drag it back to the village using an ad hoc system of levers and pulleys, hoist it upright in the village square, take off each other’s shoes and hold a ceremonial contest to see who can shimmy up the tree and hang upside down from the top first instead of going to therapy

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  Review by Jake Cole ★★★★

  The beauty of De Seta's documents of rustic, archaic Italian life lies at least partially in the fact that the labor it captures carries over from a pre-capitalist era, and as such for all of the back-breaking toil, there is a sense of real accomplishment, even joy as workers are not alienated from their labor. This opens with a harrowing introduction to the lonely, isolated mountain town that is its subject, a place so hard to reach that any commerce is prohibitively expensive from the costs of transportation and the elements reduce narrow, ancient cobblestone streets to Venetian canals. Yet ultimately it is not about the hardship of life in this hamlet but of the powerful community forged of their material and geographical conditions, where all take pleasure in working together because the only alternative to community is death.

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  Review by Filipe Furtado ★★★★

  The Forgotten was the last of De Seta's 50s documentaries and by far the longest. It is structurally the most conventional of them, far more direct than some, but the images have the same sense of discovery.

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  Review by Avirup

  Just stunning from De Seta again. These are like time travelling in motion picture form. Probably my second favourite of the 9 documentaries. All of these films wonderfully captures the everyday life of 1950s rural Italy. Snapshots of pure life. Filled with so many beautiful moments.

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  Review by Gabriel Carvalho ★★★★ 15

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  Review by eyire ★★★★★

  i'll never reach emotional heights like the guy who climbed that tree

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  Review by Raph Sandler ★★★★★

  FUCK I wanna ride a log down a hill with the fellas right now.

  Best of the short De Seta's maybe, but I do prefer that all the others have just a single text screen at the beginning, as opposed to the narration here.

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  Review by André Renato ★★★★

  Aqui, Vittorio de Seta já utiliza uma narração mais tradicional, talvez pela importância do tema (a duração do documentário também é maior que a dos outros): a vida cotidiana de uma comunidade isolada no sul da Itália. O olhar poético, mais do que o antropológico, segue com muita força.

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  Here, Vittorio de Seta uses a more traditional narration, perhaps due to the importance of the subject (the duration of the documentary is also longer than that of the others): the daily life of an isolated community in southern Italy. The poetic gaze, more than the anthropological one, remains very strong.

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  Review by Matt Abrahamson 4

  That's it. I'm out. Through cheating and padding those letterboxd stats.

  Absolutely loved these documentary shorts. Forgotten land. Forgotten people. A forgotten way of life. And just some jaw-droppingly beautiful (and inconceivable) archeological images captured here.

  Thanks George. Thanks Marty. God bless, Janus.

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  Review by V. Lepistö

  Feels like opening my eyes for the first time for the world, like waking from a dream I didn't know I was dreaming just to find out that perhaps, perhaps this dream of mine is still more real than what I see on the screen. Gone but not forgotten - I think this is truly one of the few times we can talk about "pure documentary". Thank God for Vittorio De Seta!

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  Review by JackFoster

  Sad because no more De Seta shorts. Very likely I’ll never see Italy again in a movie :(

  
  These Have been great as brief comforting viewing experiences and as works with a ton of finesse and care on display. Perfect for watching throughout my summer.

  
  Sea Country Men and Age of the Sword Fish were my favorites!