Hoezo in KINO

Italian Maestro Luchino Visconti’s devastating urban tale depicts the five Parondi brothers struggling to carve out an existence on the mean streets of post war Milan, incidentally the maverick director’s place of birth. You could argue (and if you did, you would be correct) that Scorsese and Coppola lifted the visceral aesthetics for their early works from this masterpiece. Coppola even hired Rocco‘s composer Nino Rota for the now famous score of The Godfather trilogy. Visconti utilized the transient spaces of Milan – fallow terrain, public transport, derelict playgrounds and overgrown embankments – as the sets for this unfolding human tragedy, using the high contrast monochrome to create an almost expressionist atmosphere. A young Alain Delon and Annie Girardot both deliver great performances, but our reluctant yet well deserved ovation goes out to Renato Salvatore’s depiction of brother Simone; one of the vilest, most hateable characters ever committed to celluloid. Bravo. Rocco and His Brothers will be presented with an intermission, in Italian language with English subtitles.