Thursday, February 7 2019 | 8PM La commare secca aka The Grim Reaper Italy 1962 d. Bernardo Bertolucci with Marisa Solinas, Allen Midgette, Giancarlo De Rosa and Alfredo Leggi. In Italian with English subtitles. Black and white. 88 m
“La Commare Secca has enough rough edges to mark it unmistakably as a debut effort. It also has a sophistication that, from so young and inexperienced a film maker, is quite unexpected. Mr. Bertolucci gravitates instinctively to extremes here, shooting from the steepest, the broadest, the most eye-catching angle whenever he can. Even when these touches don’t serve the narrative, that hardly matters. The narrative is always secondary to Mr. Bertolucci’s very disciplined flamboyance.” Janet Maslin
See Also: Rashomon (Kurosawa, 1950), La Dolce Vita (Frllini, 1960), Mamma Roma (Pasolini, 1962), Vivre sa vie aka My life To Live (Godard, 1962)