On our newest Prestige Picture Presentation, we explore the brilliantly melancholy 1948 Italian drama, BICYCLE THIEVES, directed by the excellent Vittorio De Sicca.
Frank Mandosa, host of the great film review podcast Silver Screeners, returns to the Rad Revival House to discuss this bleak but beautiful piece of Italian neorealism. Shot in and taking place during post-World War II Rome, BICYCLE THIEVES depicts the plight of poor everyman Antonio (Lamberto Maggiorani), who loses his very important bicycle to a thief. Needing his conveyance in order to keep his newly acquired job of pasting film posters on the city walls, Antonio and his son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) must retrieve their bicycle back or face the ravages of poverty.BICYCLE THIEVES is a depressing, but ultimately important film that is essential viewing for anyone interested in grasping human emotional responses in cinema. Filmmakers looking to convey fear, rage, apprehension, and desperation within their own characters must absorb this film in order to capture those emotions realistically and properly.
BICYCLE THIEVES is not a popcorn movie, but a work of true art that should not be missed towards all looking to enhance their cinematic palate.
