“I saw these movies. They had a powerful effect on me. You should see them.” That’s Martin Scorsese’s message for this documentary. We meet his family on Elizabeth Street in New York; he’s a third generation Italian with Sicilian roots. Starting in 1949, they watched movies on TV as well as in theaters, lots of Italian imports. Scorsese, with his narration giving a personal as well as a public context, shows extended clips of these movies. Films of Rossellini and De Sica fill part one; those of Visconti, Fellini, and Antonioni comprise part two. Scorsese takes time with emotion, style, staging, technique, political context, and cinematic influence. It’s his movie family. —IMDb
Martin Scorsese was born in New York City and soon developed a passion for cinema and a particular admiration for neo-realist cinema which inspired him and influenced his view or portrayal of his Sicilian heritage. After graduating from NYU Film School in 1966 and making a number of shorts, he shot his first feature-length film Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1968) with fellow student, actor Harvey Keitel, and editor Thelma Schoonmaker both of whom were to become long-term collaborators. Mean Streets followed in 1973 and provided the benchmarks for the ‘Scorsese style’. After Scorsese directed Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, the trio was reunited for the dark journey of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. After New York, New York Scorsese released Raging Bull. The acclaimed biography of middleweight fighter Jake LaMotta was followed by exploration of fans as pariah in The King of Comedy, dark-comic dreams in After Hours and pool sharks in The Color of Money. Scorsese outraged some religious… read more
An insightful retrospective about italian movies related to the neo-realism period. Martin Scorseses shows his own point of view about the italian films who had inspired him and his work. In a few words we can describe his work on this doc: learning about true cinema.
Saw this on TV a few years ago. A really insightful look into Scorsese's mindset.
As a follow up to his essay on American Movies this is pretty darn good and it will amke you seek out the lesser known films
This is a documentary about movies. It is also a masterpiece that can be appreciated on it’s own terms. IL MIO VIAGGIO IN ITALIA is an essay film that uses clips from Italian masters(Visconti, DeSica… read review