Rogopag

The strange title combines the abbreviations of the four directors (Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Luc Godard, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and the relatively unknown Ugo Gregoretti) responsible for the sketches in this much-better-than-average Italian feature of 1962, when the art of cinema was in an especially lively phase. I don’t recall the Gregoretti segment, but the other three make this well worth the price of admission, even if Rossellini’s sketch and Godard’s The New World (a rough draft for Alphaville) are ultimately more interesting than satisfying. Pasolini’s episode, about the shooting of a biblical spectacular, with Orson Welles as the Felliniesque director, is mind-bogglingly wonderful. (JR)

This entry was posted in Featured Texts. Bookmark the permalink.