Criminal Elegance: Luchino Visconti

I hope to wend my way through this genteel Marxist's work beginning with Ossessione and continue through his often epic work. Inspired by the recent Criterion release of Le Notti Bianche, I've decided to pursue a director whose work has eluded me aesthetically since I became aware of him and had time to fashion some sense of Neorealism and its tenets and obligations. I might've chosen Rossellini, but there's so little available on DVD and too little to be comprehensive on VHS. That said, barring further distraction I hope to begin sometime on Saturday - full disclosure: Infernal Affairs got my attention; Mysterious Skin was handed to me by a coworker; and 2046 probably won't remain in Philadelphia much past next week. It's my belief that Visconti may be the most often cited, yet least seen director of his generation of Italian filmmakers.

Welles complicates things a bit next Monday, when Citizen Kane screens at International House.

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Be it resolved: Le Notti Bianche will be returned today and exchanged for La Terra Trema, which I've rented several times and never watched. I must mention in passing that I've seen several of these films on the in-store monitors, including Trema and Senso.