From Sergei Eisenstein to Andrei Konchalovsky, Russian filmmakers perfected a formula for manufacturing social reality out of highly concentrated mixes of activist outrage and artistic chutzpah. Political hindsight overshadows their unparalleled toying with film language, but it also deepens great works of art like Aleksandr Dovzhenko’s Earth and Mikhail Kalatozov’s I Am Cuba. These two enthralling synergies of sight and sound were made with the support of a communist machine that would eventually fail the people of the Soviet Union and Cuba, but they’re first and foremost exaltations of the rebel spirit, hurled at audiences with a fierce conviction and belief in cinema as a propagandistic vehicle for change.
For the Soviet Union, I Am Cuba was an opportunity to promote socialism abroad during de-Stalinization in the Khrushchev era, and for Cuba it was a way of staking out a cinematic presence. So it is that the...
For the Soviet Union, I Am Cuba was an opportunity to promote socialism abroad during de-Stalinization in the Khrushchev era, and for Cuba it was a way of staking out a cinematic presence. So it is that the...
- 4/19/2024
- by Ed Gonzalez
- Slant Magazine
Perhaps the top cinematic output of Cuban filmmaking is this investigation of a man that doesn’t embrace the revolution. Wishing to remain apolitical, the handsome Sergio prefers to pursue attractive women, as well as illusions of his own superiority. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s account of life with Castro doesn’t shirk from an honest view of conditions in the embargoed island, between The Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Memories of Underdevelopment
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 943
1968 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 98 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Memorias de subdesarrollo / Street Date August 28, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Sergio Corrieri, Daisy Granados, Eslinda Núñez, Omar Valdés’ René de la Cruz.
Cinematography: Ramón Suárez
Film Editor: Nelson Rodríguez
Original Music: Leo Brouwer
Written by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Edmundo Desnoes, from his novel
Produced by Miguel Mendoza
Directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Welcome to the revolution. Top Cuban director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s feature...
Memories of Underdevelopment
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 943
1968 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 98 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Memorias de subdesarrollo / Street Date August 28, 2018 / 39.95
Starring: Sergio Corrieri, Daisy Granados, Eslinda Núñez, Omar Valdés’ René de la Cruz.
Cinematography: Ramón Suárez
Film Editor: Nelson Rodríguez
Original Music: Leo Brouwer
Written by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Edmundo Desnoes, from his novel
Produced by Miguel Mendoza
Directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Welcome to the revolution. Top Cuban director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s feature...
- 8/14/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
2018 likely will see more than the usual number of 50th-anniversary remembrances, given the tumult of 1968 in America and elsewhere around the globe. For Cuba, this is the golden anniversary of one of the nation's best-regarded films, Tomas Gutierrez Alea's Memories of Underdevelopment. Released Stateside in a fresh 4K restoration, the daring blend of personal and political looks back at the birth of the U.S./Cuba rift, foreshadowing conflicts that remain relevant while standing alone as a distinctive work of art.
Based on a novel by Edmundo Desnoes, the film follows Sergio (Sergio Corrieri, I Am Cuba), a member of...
Based on a novel by Edmundo Desnoes, the film follows Sergio (Sergio Corrieri, I Am Cuba), a member of...
- 1/12/2018
- by John DeFore
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
2018 is apparently the year of anniversaries and The Criterion Collection. While the film world prepares anxiously for Janus Films’ Ingmar Bergman centennial retrospective, the theatrical distribution label from which The Criterion Collection is an extension kicks off the year with a 50th anniversary restoration and theatrical run of the legendary Cuban masterpiece, Memories Of Underdevelopment.
Running for one week only at New York’s Film Forum from January 12-18, Memories is director Tomas Gutierrez Alea’s masterpiece, a profoundly moving look at life at a specific moment in the specific history of a specific nation.
Memories of Underdevelopment introduces viewers to life in post-revolution Cuba, through the eyes of Sergio. Played by Sergio Corrieri, Sergio is an intellectual whose family just fled the country in the wake of the Bay of Pigs, which sends his life into a spiral of introspection. Isolated from much of his world, he both reflects...
Running for one week only at New York’s Film Forum from January 12-18, Memories is director Tomas Gutierrez Alea’s masterpiece, a profoundly moving look at life at a specific moment in the specific history of a specific nation.
Memories of Underdevelopment introduces viewers to life in post-revolution Cuba, through the eyes of Sergio. Played by Sergio Corrieri, Sergio is an intellectual whose family just fled the country in the wake of the Bay of Pigs, which sends his life into a spiral of introspection. Isolated from much of his world, he both reflects...
- 1/12/2018
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced the lineup for the Revivals section, taking place during the 54th New York Film Festival (Nyff). The Revivals section showcases masterpieces from renowned filmmakers whose diverse and eclectic works have been digitally remastered, restored, and preserved with the assistance of generous partners.
Read More: Ava DuVernay’s Netflix Documentary ‘The 13th’ Will Open 54th New York Film Festival
Some of the films in the lineup include plenty of Nyff debuts returning once again: Gillo Pontecorvo’s “The Battle of Algiers,” which was the the Nyff Opening Night selection in 1967, Robert Bresson’s “L’argent,” and Barbara Kopple’s “Harlan County USA.” Also included are a program of Jacques Rivette’s early short films, Edward Yang’s second feature “Taipei Story,” Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu,” and Marlon Brando’s solo directorial effort “One-Eyed Jacks.”
The Nyff previously announced three of the films screening...
Read More: Ava DuVernay’s Netflix Documentary ‘The 13th’ Will Open 54th New York Film Festival
Some of the films in the lineup include plenty of Nyff debuts returning once again: Gillo Pontecorvo’s “The Battle of Algiers,” which was the the Nyff Opening Night selection in 1967, Robert Bresson’s “L’argent,” and Barbara Kopple’s “Harlan County USA.” Also included are a program of Jacques Rivette’s early short films, Edward Yang’s second feature “Taipei Story,” Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu,” and Marlon Brando’s solo directorial effort “One-Eyed Jacks.”
The Nyff previously announced three of the films screening...
- 8/4/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
As much as we’re excited for the already enticing line-up for the 2016 New York Film Festival, their Revivals slate is always a place where one can discover a number of classics or revisit favorite films. This year is no different as they have newly restored films from Robert Bresson, Edward Yang, Jacques Rivette, Marlon Brando, Kenji Mizoguchi, and more. Check out the line-up below and return for our coverage this fall. If you don’t live in New York City, there’s a good chance a number of these restorations will travel in the coming months (or year) as well as get the home video treatment.
L’argent
Directed by Robert Bresson
1983, France, 83m
Robert Bresson’s final film, an adaptation of Tolstoy’s story The Forged Coupon, is simultaneously bleak and luminous, and sharp enough to cut diamonds. The story of a counterfeit bill’s passage from hand...
L’argent
Directed by Robert Bresson
1983, France, 83m
Robert Bresson’s final film, an adaptation of Tolstoy’s story The Forged Coupon, is simultaneously bleak and luminous, and sharp enough to cut diamonds. The story of a counterfeit bill’s passage from hand...
- 8/4/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
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