Thursday, March 23, 2017

Rocco and His Brothers

An impoverished, stereotypical Italian mother moves her four sons from the country to Milan both to be near her eldest boy and to seek a better life. There, the two eldest (a cherubic Alain Delon and a debased Renato Salvatori) find success in the boxing ring and their lives torn to shreds over a stunningly gorgeous, reformed ex-prostitute (Annie Girardot). Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers is a sweeping, powerful, tonally shifting late period neorealism with great performances all around two second act unforgettable violent sequences involving Salvatori and Girardot.
*** 1/2 out of ****