Pasolini 101

[swo17]

what else, in the way of docs/shorts/etc are there that's missing here?

There are no shorts exclusive to the MoC or BFI releases, unless you want to count BFI's Trilogy of Life which includes Appunti per un'Orestiade africana. The special features I listed previously were unique because they included Pasolini's own words or work. Most everything else that's unique to those releases is critical writings, though the Criterion has plenty of its own. I should note that BFI's Medea has a couple of Maria Callas-centered extras that are probably worth the double dip

[patreig]

I have not seen any complete review of the box. Why?

[MichaelB]

I have not seen any complete review of the box. Why?

Because it’s just come out and there’s a lot to get through?

I’d much rather wait for a decent and conscientious review than read a slapdash rush job, and some “reviewers” seem to think that getting published first is more important than publishing something that’s actually good.

There’s one “reviewer” who’s so keen to be the first that he blatantly doesn’t even watch the disc properly, something I’d long suspected even before he “reviewed” - as in passed actual critical judgement on - an extra that didn’t exist! (It had been announced but then cancelled thanks to unexpected interviewee ill-health.). He tried to bluster his way out of that, but he’d been caught red-handed, and that was the end of his freebie advance previews, at least from that label.

[onedimension]

Anyone have tech difficulties with Matthew? When I get to chapter 12 the screen starts turning into blocks, sound spits and crackles.. no idea if it’s the disc or something with my player

I just checked mine to see, and it plays fine. However, my disc is all scratched up, probably due to how tightly these are packaged/tough to get out of their sleeves. I wouldn't be surprised if playback issues were related to this. I know Criterion ships replacements for individual discs in box sets, and for films that aren't on their 'problem list' (I recently had the same thing you're describing happen in the middle of Ben Johnson's Oscar-winning monologue on my copy of The Last Picture Show despite the disc being spotless, and they replaced it with a fixed disc), so you should be able to get a replacement if you contact them

Thanks for the heads-up, I gave it a microfiber wipe and that cleared it up. I love the feel of the box but I do hate those slim sleeves.

[Tuppence]

This is a very beautiful and welcome collection, but am I wrong, or is there literally nowhere within this set that lists the contents of each disc?

[Glowingwabbit]

This is a very beautiful and welcome collection, but am I wrong, or is there literally nowhere within this set that lists the contents of each disc?

You're not wrong. It's a rather annoying oversight on their part

[ryannichols7]

This is a very beautiful and welcome collection, but am I wrong, or is there literally nowhere within this set that lists the contents of each disc?

You're not wrong. It's a rather annoying oversight on their part

you guys don't have to worry, it's not like there's much on them anyways besides the films...

[Matt]

After a hiatus for watching the Mexico Macabre set, I returned to Pasolini 101 today, Mamma Roma specifically. As with Accatone, I spent most of the running time thinking “hmm, I’m not sure I really like this,” and then the last 20 minutes dropped like a ton of bricks. Absolutely shattering film.

It seems easy to overlook Pasolini’s technical mastery in these early works. And maybe the credit should go to cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli, but some of the camera movements and framings here are surprisingly sophisticated, especially the two extended “walk-and-talks” with Magnani where various interlocutors come and go from the sides of the frame while she continues walking forward at the center. The movement is so fluid and stable and I can’t imagine how it was done without extensive dolly tracks, which I don’t see any evidence of.

I’ll be incorporating Mamma Roma’s comment about Bruna into my regular insult rotation: “She looks like a broom in drag.”

[Matt]

This is a very beautiful and welcome collection, but am I wrong, or is there literally nowhere within this set that lists the contents of each disc?

As I’m going through the set disc by disc anyway, I will compile a list of supplements on each disc and post them below. When it’s done, I can ask a mod to maybe add it to the top post.

I’m going to be copy/pasting from screenshots so forgive the eccentric formatting or OCR errors.

[Matt]

PASOLINI 101 SUPPPLEMENTS

Disc 1: Accatone
- COMMENTARY: This commentary track, recorded for Eureka Entertainment in 2011, features critic and historian Tony Rayns.
- PASOLINI ON PASOLINI: In this program, produced by the Criterion Collection in 2023, actor Tilda Swinton and writer Rachel Kushner read from Pasolini's personal essays and journal entries, in which he reflects on the meaning of cinema in his life and his journey to becoming a maestro of the craft.
- CINÉASTES DE NOTRE TEMPS: This intimate portrait of Pasolini, dubbed "the enraged" in the program's subtitle, aired on French television on November 15, 1966, and was directed by Jean-André Fieschi. It features wide-ranging conversations with the director as well as interviews with the actors and collaborators who helped shape his cinematic universe over the course of the sixties.
- TRAILER

Disc 2: Mamma Roma
- LA RICOTTA: In 1962, the year in which Mamma Roma was released, Pasolini made La ricotta, about a director filming the Passion of Jesus, as part of the anthology film Ro.Go.Pa.G. The short was mired in controversy but marked an important turning point in Pasolini's thematic, political, and stylistic development.
- PIER PAOLO PASOLINI: This documentary, made by Ivo Barnabo Micheli in 1995-the twentieth anniversary of Pasolini's murder-examines the central ideas in the work of this legendary and controversial artist.
- BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI: Filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci began his career as a production assistant on Pasolini's first film, Accattone (1961). This interview was recorded in Italy in the fall of 2003.
- TONINO DELLI COLLI: Tonino Delli Colli worked as the director of photography on eleven of Pasolini's films. This interview was recorded in Italy in the fall of 2003.
- ENZO SICILIANO: Enzo Siciliano is the author of Pasolini: A Biography (1982). This interview was recorded in Italy in the fall of 2003.
- TRAILER

Disc 3: Love Meetings
- NOTES FOR A CRITOFILM: In this short documentary, made by Maurizio Ponzi in 1967, Pasolini offers a concise yet illuminating explanation of his cinematic grammar, drawing on his regular collaborator Ninetto Davoli and scenes from Love Meetings to illustrate examples of his larger artistic worldview.
- VARDA MEETS PASOLINI: Two icons of cinema link up on the streets of New York City in this portrait of Pasolini, shot by filmmaker Agnes Varda in 1967.
- TRAILER

Disc 4: The Gospel According to Matthew
- SCOUTING IN PALESTINE: In 1963, Pasolini traveled to Palestine to find locations for his upcoming film, The Gospel According to Matthew, with a newsreel photographer and a Catholic priest in tow. This documentary overlays Pasolini's sojourn from village to village with his improvised observations and commentary. [Includes outtakes]
- TRAILER

Disc 5: The Hawks and the Sparrows
- AT THE CIRCUS: This deleted scene from The Hawks and the Sparrows features the film's lead actor Toto and includes the dialogue that Pasolini had planned to record for the scene.
- NINETTO THE MESSENGER: In this documentary, which was directed by Jean-André Fieschi and aired on French television in 1997, actor Ninetto Davoli discusses his collaboration with Pasolini, whom he met in the early 1960s.
- TRAILER

Disc 6: Oedipus Rex
- NOTES FOR A FILM ON INDIA: This documentary was shot on the occasion of Pasolini's trip to postindependence India to do research on a proposed film. It features his reflections on the country's economic and class-based hardships, as well as on its modernization and Westernization.
- THE SEQUENCE OF THE PAPER FLOWER: Pasolini directed this sketch featuring actor Ninetto Davoli as part of the 1969 anthology film Love and Anger, a compendium of modern-day cinematic reflections on the Gospels that also features the work of contemporaries such as Jean-Luc Godard, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Marco Bellocchio.
- TRAILER

Disc 7: Teorema
- COMMENTARY: This 2007 commentary features film scholar Robert S. C. Gordon, author of Pasolini: Forms of Subjectivity.
- PASOLINI INTRODUCTION: In this brief interview, first broadcast on February 8, 1969, Pasolini responds to questions from journalist Cécile Philippe about his film Teorema.
- TERENCE STAMP: In this 2007 interview with Terence Stamp, the actor discusses making Teorema.
- JOHN DAVID RHODES: In this interview, shot by the Criterion Collection in 2019, film scholar John David Rhodes, author of Stupendous, Miserable City: Pasolini's Rome, discusses Teorema.

Disc 8: Porcile
- PASOLINI ON "PORCILE": In this interview for the French television program Allez au cinéma, directed by Colette Thiriet and aired on October 13, 1969, Pasolini talks about making Porcile and casting Pierre Clémenti and Jean-Pierre Léaud as the film's lead actors.
- TRAILER

Disc 9: Medea
- ON-SET MEMORIES: This 2004 documentary on the making of Medea features rare behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with actors Laurent Terzieff and Giuseppe Gentile, cinematographer Ennio Guarnieri, production designer Dante Ferretti, costume designer Piero Tosi, and still photographer Mario Tursi.
- MARIA CALLAS: In this interview for the French television program Pour le cinéma, directed by Pierre Mignot and aired on October 28, 1969, actor and opera icon Maria Callas speaks from the set of Medea about her first on-screen performance and collaboration with Pasolini.
- TRAILER

[swo17]

That will be a very helpful addition. I've added what you've done so far

[cdnchris]

Ah, I meant to update the supplements on this site's page for it and completely forgot to do so. I'll do that first chance I get.

[Stefan Andersson]

Is La Ricotta in this set the restored director´s cut?
Relevant info here: https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/e ... i-rogopag/

[Matt]

Is La Ricotta in this set the restored director´s cut?
Relevant info here: https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/e ... i-rogopag/

I just watched it and it seems to match the description in that article (including the prefatory text and the final Welles line - EDIT: I was incorrect about this line). The restoration notes say it was taken directly from the original negative.

EDIT: I could have saved myself some time as Tooze already listed out the supplements by disc (with runtimes), but I included the summaries here as well.

[A Tempted Christ]

Is La Ricotta in this set the restored director´s cut?
Relevant info here: https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/e ... i-rogopag/

Asked the same question a couple of weeks ago here but no one responded.

The restoration notes say it was taken directly from the original negative.

Then it's not the director's cut. The only surviving print of that is a 35mm positive.

[swo17]

I could have saved myself some time as Tooze already listed out the supplements by disc (with runtimes), but I included the summaries here as well.

I've combined his runtimes with your summaries in the first post

[Matt]

The restoration notes say it was taken directly from the original negative.

Then it's not the director's cut. The only surviving print of that is a 35mm positive.

My mistake. The restoration notes say “from the original camera negatives and a dual-band sound print made available by Studio Cine” [a partire dal negativo camera originale e da un positivo colonna doppia banda, entrambi messi a disposizione da Studio Cine]. But I think you still might be correct because Natalina does not remove her bra (you only see her about to unhook it) and Welles’ final line, in Italian, doesn’t say anything about “la rivoluzione.” Finally, it only runs 35:21 with the restoration notes and the original titles, as opposed the director’s cut running +/-38:00.

[patreig]

I have not seen any complete review of the box. Why?

Because it’s just come out and there’s a lot to get through?

I’d much rather wait for a decent and conscientious review than read a slapdash rush job

Still no reviews of The Hawks and the Sparrows, Oedipus Rex, Porcile, Medea?

[patreig]

I have not seen any complete review of the box. Why?

Because it’s just come out and there’s a lot to get through?

I’d much rather wait for a decent and conscientious review than read a slapdash rush job

Still no reviews of The Hawks and the Sparrows, Oedipus Rex, Porcile, Medea?

Still nothing one month later. Weird.

[JSC]

They're still trying to get the discs out of the cardboard casing.

[hearthesilence]

They're still trying to get the discs out of the cardboard casing.

Truth be told, that has been a deterrent for playing discs for me. I've also had CD's that got scuffed to shit just because of the crappy way the cardboard sleeves were designed - for the more valuable ones (usually box sets or OOP albums), it would turn into this ridiculous, prolonged thing just to get the disc out without having it getting scratched. I'd need to find an example and post pictures, but the design was that bad. I eventually got plastic sleeves to get around it - you can just pull out the discs by the sleeve and the friction and contact against the packaging does absolutely nothing thanks to that protective film over the disc. Makes a world of a difference.

[JSC]

I just about managed with the Varda set, but I scratched two discs from Pasolini 101 just trying to remove
them. Ended up getting a plastic bluray case for the total number of discs required and put a label on it.

[hearthesilence]

Can someone suggest how to gets discs out of their pockets without finger smudges? The pockets with hard backs are very tight, and the discs don't slide out. They need to be grabbed by the edge (not easy because the pockets have little room) and firmly pulled out.

I love the design of the set and it's great holding it in hand. minus...the disc slots. I'm gonna join the consensus here, they didn't really think this through and these are a real bitch to remove. I'm wishing there was a way they could nail this slot design - the Bergman and Fellini sets did well but the others are a letdown. obviously it's way too much to have 9 normal cases, but there's got to be another way.

...my disc is all scratched up, probably due to how tightly these are packaged/tough to get out of their sleeves. I wouldn't be surprised if playback issues were related to this.

I just about managed with the Varda set, but I scratched two discs from Pasolini 101 just trying to remove them. Ended up getting a plastic bluray case for the total number of discs required and put a label on it.

This is even worse than Universal's Hitchcock sets, and by far the most aggravating I've come across. To call it "pragmatic" is grossly inaccurate. (It left me royally pissed for a good while after seeing how it was damaging one disc after another.) The pocket design holds the discs way too tightly, and this is especially true with the pages that hold one disc on either side. Final tally was six of nine scratched, five of which are pretty severe with scratches looking especially deep. Even if I was lucky enough to pull all of them unscathed, the plastic sleeves I recommended earlier wouldn't protect them in the future - the pockets are so ridiculous tight, even something as thin as those sleeves would be too much. It's especially galling considering the inflated price on this set - if you're going to jack up the price, at least design something that'll protect and preserve the discs rather than physically sabotaging them. Regardless, I was considering re-planning my purchases going forward to avoid shit packaging like this, and this pretty much settles it.

[therewillbeblus]

I realize it must be more challenging, and perhaps financially-inviable to re-design box set packaging like that based on consumer complaints, but I'd hope if enough people made a stink they'd respond like All About Eve and change something to make customers happier. My guess is many who've bought this haven't cracked into it yet (I've only pulled out one disc to test, which was scratched, but played through), whereas a single-disc release is going to feel less daunting to be examined and tested sooner after delivery. It really is awful packaging.

[onedimension]

Sleeves are awful, I can’t stand the cardboard paper they use for other box sets and releases too. Citizen Kane, Three Colors… Go all plastic. Is it more expensive? Is Criterion committed to sustainability?