Neorealism

 Kristin Langevin

Com126.01

Professor Saphire

06 November 2020

Influence of Neorealism 

Neorealism has been used to cultivate people’s thorough attention towards ordinary moments in life, which creates a captivating interest in many people. It is a genre that displays daily actions and emotions to evoke the feeling of familiarity and relation from all sorts of crowds. This is unraveled by using specific forms of production choices, such as gritty lighting, longer scenes, and less explanation towards actions. By doing this, the compositional structure promotes focus on the background motions equally as important as the foreground. In contrast, these stylistic choices aren’t always a requirement in terms of classifying neorealism. The idea of generating life in a complex, yet rational way can be achieved through a variety of different styles.

Moonlight by Barry Jenkins enables the sensation of loss through the lens of desperation. It is a film that accurately depicts the struggles a young black man’s experiences throughout the stages of his life, and is produced vividly by exaggerated lighting and beautiful dialogue. What connects this film to realism is how it makes the viewer feel as the screen time rolls. It is a well fleshed out concept that drives any audience member to understand the endeavor of self discovery, whether it be sexuality, financial instability, or the general need for personal improvement. The scenes are gratified by bright, flashy lighting, which contradicts the plot as it continues to repeat the hardships Chiron has to face. Although this film has clear relations to neorealism, these specific uses of stylistic elements separates Moonlight from traditional neorealism. 

In Bicycle Thieves by Vitorrio De Sica, the primary focus is on the destruction of everyday happenings. There is a subtle progression that occurs, and nothing extraordinary takes place. This is a film that uses the events of a seemingly average person and lays it out in front of the audience, almost as if it is a documentary. Most consumers of this film will understand and relate to the happenings in some capacity due to its simplicity. Similarly, the film Killer of Sheep directed by Charles Burnett shows the life of a struggling family attempting to find normalcy and stability in a place that contains neither. The use of close up shots indicates a sense of claustrophobia, which is a feeling that is easily comprehended due to the nature of the plot. There is a dark, gritty texture to the film that aids in the deep emotions that are experienced during the events, which all ties back into how neorealism connects its artistic intentions to the everyday world. 

Neorealism is more than a style, it is a tactic used to represent the state of reality; which is always evolving. The basis includes a basic outline that is easily understood, but reality isn’t stagnant, which makes neorealism ever changing. Moonlight is a great barrier that displays the separation from tradition to progression in this genre. There is a sense of truthfulness that isn’t obtained through simple gestures like Bicycle Thieves or Killer of Sheep. As time continues on, neorealism will continue to evolve with film. The effects of this will be an outcome in cinema that perfectly blends reality with fiction.