Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves)

The copy that we watched looked like it had been mastered (it was on VHS) from about five different reels, some of which were subtitled, others which were not. The subtitles would drop out at some very inoportune moments leaving long stretches of important dialogue (I'd like to assume) untranslated. However, I must mention, due to the simplicity of the story and the characters, their everyday-ness, much of what they say can be inferred anyway. Knowing before hand that the two main characters were not trained actors, I was amazed at how fluid their performances seemed. Maybe that's teh Italians for you, less culturally self-conscious about things like cameras and being watched. It would make perfect sense if that were the case. Throughout the film I was consciously impressed by how crowded it was, knowing that those crowds were the real every-day crowds of Rome.

Total: 135