My Voyage to Italy

Starring:My Voyage to Italy
Studio: Miramax
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
This survey of Italian cinema by Martin Scorsese is a worthwhile follow-up to his 1995 documentary A Personal Journey Through American Movies. Packed with insight and film clips, Voyage covers Italian cinema from World War II through the early '60s, the time that the young Scorsese watched these films before starting his career. The heart of the documentary is the Neo-Realism movement--not the lightest of genres, but Scorsese's passion helps considerably. He introduces us to his family and Sicilian ancestors via photos and home movies allowing us to understand how powerfully these films affected him and his family. He talks about how he saw the films, often through inferior prints on television, and calls out details to observe. The filmmaker spends upwards of 15 minutes on a single film, with the bulk of the history centering on five powerhouse directors: Roberto Rossellini (Open City), Vittorio De Sica (The Bicycle Thief), Luchino Visconti (Senso), Federico Fellini (8-1/2), and Michelangelo Antonioni(L'Avventura).

Scorsese's four-hour-plus survey should come with a college credit for film history. He examines the major films but also spends time on films that may be hard to find on home video (at least at this time): Rossellini's six-part Paisan, a heart-breaking look at the last days of the war; De Sica's episodic The Gold of Naples; Fellini's atypical I Vitelloni, which was a major influence on Scorsese's own Mean Streets; Antonioni's Eclipse with its radical ending; and Rossellini's Voyage to Italy, an examination of a marriage that failed worldwide as a film but was a touchstone for the French New Wave movement. The final results are not as accessible as Personal Journey but, at worst, a viewer will have working knowledge of more than 20 Italian films (and be able to cheat their way through a discussion). At best, these are four hours that will end too soon and leave you hungry to view these films that have fueled Scorsese's cinematic vision. --Doug Thomas
Description
One of the most acclaimed directors of our time, Academy Award(R) nominee Martin Scorsese (GANGS OF NEW YORK, 2002; GOOD FELLAS, 1990; RAGING BULL, 1980), directs and narrates this remarkable in-depth look at the careers of great Italian filmmakers and their art's profound influence on him. With MY VOYAGE TO ITALY, Scorsese takes the viewer on a fascinating journey highlighting the classics of Italian cinema, from the neo-realism of post-war Italy through its transition into opulent period drama and surrealist fantasy. Illuminated by insightful movie clips and his own impassioned commentary, Scorsese's deeply personal observations offer not only an absorbing lesson in the history of Italian film, but its direct connection to the best in contemporary filmmaking as well. As inspiring as it is richly detailed, you'll never look at movies the same way again once you've experienced this landmark documentary!

My Voyage to Italy
Average customer rating:

I loved it so much when I bought it one year ago that ...

A Film Connossieur's Delight

more film appreciation but some substantive analysis makes it worthwhile

Superb rich personal and educational essay on Italian films.

I saw some of these on Dialing For Dollars on Albuquerque TV - pre-cable

My Voyage to Italy
Starring: Martin Scorsese
Director: Martin Scorsese
Manufacturer: Miramax
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000092T5D
Release Date: 2004-07-06

Amazon.com

This survey of Italian cinema by Martin Scorsese is a worthwhile follow-up to his 1995 documentary A Personal Journey Through American Movies. Packed with insight and film clips, Voyage covers Italian cinema from World War II through the early '60s, the time that the young Scorsese watched these films before starting his career. The heart of the documentary is the Neo-Realism movement--not the lightest of genres, but Scorsese's passion helps considerably. He introduces us to his family and Sicilian ancestors via photos and home movies allowing us to understand how powerfully these films affected him and his family. He talks about how he saw the films, often through inferior prints on television, and calls out details to observe. The filmmaker spends upwards of 15 minutes on a single film, with the bulk of the history centering on five powerhouse directors: Roberto Rossellini (Open City), Vittorio De Sica (The Bicycle Thief), Luchino Visconti (Senso), Federico Fellini (8-1/2), and Michelangelo Antonioni(L'Avventura).

Description

One of the most acclaimed directors of our time, Academy Award(R) nominee Martin Scorsese (GANGS OF NEW YORK, 2002; GOOD FELLAS, 1990; RAGING BULL, 1980), directs and narrates this remarkable in-depth look at the careers of great Italian filmmakers and their art's profound influence on him. With MY VOYAGE TO ITALY, Scorsese takes the viewer on a fascinating journey highlighting the classics of Italian cinema, from the neo-realism of post-war Italy through its transition into opulent period drama and surrealist fantasy. Illuminated by insightful movie clips and his own impassioned commentary, Scorsese's deeply personal observations offer not only an absorbing lesson in the history of Italian film, but its direct connection to the best in contemporary filmmaking as well. As inspiring as it is richly detailed, you'll never look at movies the same way again once you've experienced this landmark documentary!

Customer Reviews:

I loved it so much when I bought it one year ago that ... .......2007-05-31

.. I bought a second copy as gift for a italian-cinema-lover friend.
Absolutely great stuff.
In the second DVD it's just moving: Scorzese's love for all the aspects of this part of cinema's history is overwhelming.

A Film Connossieur's Delight.......2006-10-30

This is an excellent documentary for anyone that is a film buff and a lover of foreign films. Martin Scorcese takes the viewer on a journey through Italian cinema from the 1940's to the 1960's. His love of film shows in this documentary as well as his reflection on his Italian heritage. Because of this movie, I have seen Frederico Fellini's films Juliet of the Spirits and I Vitelli.
For any film student that wants to produce good movies, needs to take a look at this documentary very carefully and see how movies are truly made.

more film appreciation but some substantive analysis makes it worthwhile.......2006-08-27

This is a very personal introduction to Italian neo-realism and the new directions of Italian cinema in the early 1960's. Scorcese's affection for Italian cinema is obvious and his discussion of the directors (Rossellini, De Sica, Visconti, Fellini, Antonioni)and their films is informative and insightful if also a bit tedious at times. Scorcese does not pretend to be a film scholar and he does not pretend to be offering a critical analysis of the movement or of the directors or of their films; instead he offers a film fans (albeit a very knowledgable film fans) enthusiasm for the subject matter. This approach has its strengths as Scorcese's enthusiasm is at times infectious, however, I, at times, wanted to hear a more critical appraisal/assessment of these films instead of merely a plot summary (Scorcese gives very detailed plot and theme summaries of several key films: My Italian Voyage, I Vitelloni, L'Avventura, L'Eclipse, La Dolca Vita, 8 1/2). I also wanted to hear a bit more about what was going on in other national cinemas during the same period (other national cinemas are mentioned only once and even then only very briefly). This is a documentary about Italian cinema but an occasional reference to French and American, as well as Indian, Latin and Japanese cinema may have allowed us to contextualize neo-realism. World Cinema became a phenomenon for the first time after WWII and it seems worth noting that there was a lot of cross-cultural influence going on especially in the 50's and 60's. The French specifically had their own very interesting pre- and post-WWII cinema and there were plenty of gritty noirs coming from America and England in the 30's and 40's. I think a mention and comparison of these parallel movements may have proved interesting and insightful. As it is we get a very personal journey through one national cinema and it does feel like a sentimental journey at times despite the decidely unsentimental subject matter of many the films under review.

The first disc of this two DVD set deals primarily with neo-realism and on this disc Scorcese talks mainly about how he felt about these films when he first saw them as a child or teen but he never discusses whether his judgements of particular films changed over the years or just how the experience of seeing a film at the age of 6 is different from seeing the same film at the age 16 or 26 or 36 or 66. We get an account of the enthusiastic first impressions these films made on the young and very impressionable Martin Scorcese (and the fact that these films remind him of a certain time in his own youth and family) mixed with the sober reflections of a discriminating and accomplished film maker who is also a film fan. But we don't hear Scorcese discuss how his own evaluative process developed and matured and changed over the years nor how a child most likely experiences and appreciates cinema in quite a different way than does the discriminating adult film maker. Nor do we hear any discussion of the extent to which Scorcese formed his own aesthetic in reponse to (or as a reaction against) the aesthetics of the Italian film makers he admires (or why neo-realism felt limiting to some film makers) . So we don't get a critical view of the movement (what it revealed as well as what it concealed; what were its strengths as well as weakneses) nor of the films themselves so much as an appreciation of them. Nor do we get a critical assessment of how Scorcese the artist chose his influences and how he used/altered/evolved those things that he saw and admired in these films in his own films. Thus despite the fact that he does engage with 25 or so films this documentary feels more like a four hour sightseeing tour than an artist's substantive voyage into film history. At least the first two hour disc does.

The second disc where Scorcese talks about early 1960's cinema is much stronger because Scorcese was an older more discriminating film fan when he first saw Fellini's and Antonioni's early work for the first time and so his account of of these films is much more substantive and analytical. And it is also these two film makers that seem to mean the most to him and have played the biggest part in shaping his own view of the world. Some of the shot by shot analysis of Visconti's Senso, Antonioni's L'Eclipse and Fellini's 8 1/2 is pure film class stuff that film students will greatly appreciate.

I think if you have only a passing interest in Italian neo-realism and early 60's Italian cinema then you will probably be assisted by Scorcese's enthusiasms but if you are a film fanatic and you really want to know about this period in cinema history then Scorcese's personal touches and interjections of personal history may feel like an interference. The neo-realist films pride themselves on their almost documentary like objectivity and lucidity but this documentary of the movement is full of flashes of Scorcese's own sentiments. The treatment of Italian neo-realism feels a little compromised for that reason. The treatment of early 60's films is, on the other hand, much more impersonal and therefore much more intellectually stimulating and engaging.

Scorcese makes a point of saying that this is a personal and not a scholarly journey. If you want an objective account of Italian neo-realism or an account of this national cinema from the Italian film artists themselves then you should probably look elsewhere.

Superb rich personal and educational essay on Italian films. .......2006-05-30

My Voyage to Italy is Martin Scorsese's 246 minute love-letter to the Italian films he grew up watching with his family on Elizabeth Street in New York City. The knowledge passion and reckless enthusiasm you would expect from director Scorsese also serves to educate the audience to the best known and most important Italian films made between 1947 and 1963.

The un-enlightened or strictly visceral summer blockbuster film watchers need not bother with this one. You'll get over 4 hours of mostly black and white film clips with easy to read yellow subtitles.

If you have a passion for films that matter -as art, political statements, or film-maker's personal passions--then you will not want to miss this movie. If you recall seeing most of these films as part of college film study classes, in revival theaters, or on television in less than pristine form, you can relive seeing the films once again (in condensed film) with a brilliant narrator (Scorsese) who passionately explains what makes these films special to him--and perhaps will make them special to you as well.

Scorsese through his narration and with the help of Thelma Schoonmaker`s subtle editing, tells you how and why he fell in love with the movies. They showed him the land where his grand parents came from, they showed him the culture of his ancestry, they showed him the passion and art of making movies and how they could influence and affect the world. Movies had power and could mean something.

That doesn't necessarily mean that Scorsese is 100 percent correct in his passionate love for these films. He admits there are flaws to many of the movies he is showing, but that he also doesn't care about these flaws. He communicates to us very well why these films mean as much as they do to him, and shows off the best, most affecting scenes. He suggests ways that we might watch these titles to enjoy them, understand them completely. If you want to fall in love with Italian Neo-realism in particular, Scorsese makes it easy for you to do so.

The subject is very personal and we go deep into the works of five major post World War 2 Italian filmmakers. In the process we get mini-biographies of Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti, Michaelangelo Antonioni and Frederico Fellini in the approximately 45 minutes that is devoted to each one. We learn where the filmmakers came from, their career arcs and we sample 4 to 6 movies from each. The movie stops at Fellini's 8 ½ after 246 minutes.

There is much more to this subject, then is covered in this one very long film. Scorsese could give us another 246 minute, Another Voyage to Italy and cover more Italian cinema classics and filmmakers post 1963 like: The Leopard, The Conformist, Pasolini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Mario Bava (mentioned very quickly in the first film), Leoni's Good, Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon A Time in the West and many others. Foolishly there has been so criticism on this project because of what Scorsese left out--even though usually what is missed is post 1963 films that were not part of the scope of this film in the first place.

Scorsese makes many films resonate with his comments, observations, memories and appreciations including: the Italian silent classic Cabiria,that was a major influence on Griffith's Intolerance, Rome: Open City, Paisan, Fabiola, The Gold of Naples ,Germany Year Zero, Stromboli, The Miracle, The Flowers of St. Francis, Europa '51, Voyage to Italy, Obsessione, La Terra Trema, Senso, Shoeshine, The Bicycle Thief, Umberto D, Marriage Italian-Style, I Vitelloni, La Dolce Vita, , L'Avventura, and L'Eclisse.and finally as a celebration of pure cinema Scorsese shows us clips from Fellini's 8 ½.

I would have really appreciated being shown less known films than the ones included on this documentary. I mean I have seen most of these films and at least half I've seen several times or own on DVD. However, Scorsese would have to deviate from his personal voyage to include more obscure films, for they would not be films he saw as a child. If you haven't seen a lot of the films that are being discussed here--you should. And if you watch MY VOYAGE TO ITALY before you see the films, you will be somewhat influenced by how the famous director views these images and what they mean to him. But maybe you wouldn't seek out these movies without seeing this movie.
If VOYAGE reminds people of the art and importance of film, then it is of course a good thing. However, I know that this is mostly a project that preaches to the choir. It is too long and not accessible enough for those who only have a casual interest in the subject matter.

I strongly recommend you watch this one--and I wish more of you would truly be interested enough to do so.

I saw some of these on Dialing For Dollars on Albuquerque TV - pre-cable .......2005-12-05

May 31,2005, Thelma Schoonmaker, the film editor for masterpieces like Raging Bull to The Aviator was interviewed on NPR's Fresh Air. She gave Terry Gross a run-down of how her career took some interesting turns, one of which was editing the movie prints presented in local New York TV station movie broadcast, which included in its viewing public Martin Scorcese who recognized her work when they met in film school. In My Voyage to Italy, he shows us that TV set where he saw those movies with his Sicilian family and explains how important it was to his them and his cultural and film education. More importantly, he presents a passionate lesson, illustrated with wonderful clips of Italy's neorealists from Roberto Rosellini's Open City to Frederico Fellini's 8 1/2, about what these filmmakers contributed not just to Post-WWII Italy's image but artful and revolutionary storytelling that would influence him and other filmmakers today.
In general, I am a movie wimp, very focussed on comfort levels and escapism. Fellini's movies are very accessible to my sensibilities. Not that he is comfortable, but he has a style that frames his truth with such classic style and a comic edge. Rossellini's, de Sica's, and Visconti's drama, intensity and honesty have always intimidated me. (Although Visconti's comedies are a lot of fun, especially After the Fox. Scorcese mostly addresses the drama, mentioning the comedy and Roman epics briefly.) After watching, this 2-disc documentary, I am scheduling Open City, The Bicycle Thief, Senso, Vitteloni and as many of the others I can find on DVD and VHS. One of the things I admire about this documentary is that Scorcese might mention, in passing, 1 or 2 of his own movies, these movies are the stars: he wants us and generations after to watch and appreciate (enjoy) them. I wish more current masters would make similar documentaries. That means you Ingmar Bergman! (A girl can dream, can't she?!).

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