zurlini

THE FLICKS: Italy might not be the cinematic cradle of life, but it’s produced enough influential auteur and films of record to fill up an opera house. Unfortunately, the name “Valerio Zurlini” often doesn’t even make the bill, let alone earn a standing ovation. With a much more modest output than contemporaries Fellini or Visconti (just 8 features over 20 years, as the DVD liner notes point out), the director is finally getting some exposure thanks to NoShame’s box set, featuring simply stellar prints of Violent Summer and Girl With A Suitcase. Odds are you’ve never heard of either film, so let’s start with Violent Summer, the more powerful film of the two (although Claudia Cardinale’s performance in the latter certainly earns some props). A younger man, mature woman love story with the usual complications – and its share of unusual, as well – Eleonora Rossi Drago is a 30-year-old WWII widow living an unfulfilling life of privilege. Jean-Louis Trintignant is an 18-year-old in the same boat, dodging the draft and his party-going friends. They awaken in each other a passion that society shuns, and a love that the world at large will not allow. Although politics play a large part in the story, Violent Summer follows Zurlini’s lead. Made up of long uninterrupted takes that share the confessional power of the best of Bergman, the director allows his performers to carry the film, communicating the agony and ecstasy of forbidden love with a minimal amount of melodrama. No small trick, considering the soap-operatic trappings inherent in the material. Just watch as Zurlini’s camera follows the two lovers across a darkened dance floor, their bodies slowly melting into one another as the dialogue drops away - or as a fighter plane interrupts an innocent day at the beach - and you’ll be convinced this is a director of note. Girl With A Suitcase never reaches those emotional heights, but it comes damn close. Claudia Cardinale (Once Upon A Time In The West) stars as a beautiful but troubled entertainer abandoned by a playboy by the side of the road. When the playboy’s younger brother falls in love with her, the stage is set for a disaster of dashed hopes and romantic frustration. Zurlini once again trusts his actors to do all the heavy lifting; although there’s another beautiful montage of exchanged glances. Cardinale inherits the sort of role modern actresses would kill for – flawed, vulnerable and resilient. But Zurlini challenges us a bit by never making her truly endearing. That trait goes to Corrado Pani as the 16-year-old “kid” who walks a prickly path to adulthood. Unlike the other great Italian directors, Zurlini’s technique is almost invisible, not prone to grandiose exercises in style. Point in fact, he makes it look quite easy. Which is all the more reason his films deserve some serious reappraisal, not just by critics, but also by the public at large. THE FEATURES: What makes NoShame one of the most unique and valuable niche DVD studios is the ability to jump from guilty poliziottesci pleasures to certified cinematic classics. The Valerio Zurlini Box Set features digitally remastered B & W prints and a healthy menu of extras including relevant interviews with key personnel, posters & stills and a featurette on the restoration of Girl With A Suitcase.