Rocco and His Brothers

[MichaelB]

From the latest BFI press release:

8 June: ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS on 4K UHD

We are delighted to release ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS on 4K UHD for the first time in the UK. Luchino Visconti’s 1960 film is universally regarded as a masterpiece of neorealism. This 4K restoration was released in UK cinemas by the BFI in 2025, and the iconic cast includes Alain Delon (Le Samouraï) and Claudia Cardinale (Once Upon a Time in the West, The Leopard).

[domino harvey]

Only extra announced thus far is a commentary by Adrian Martin

[therewillbeblus]

Well, that's enough

[hearthesilence]

Not that it's easy to get any of them for a supplemental interview, but I thought there were quite a few name directors who thought the world of this film. Martin Scorsese, the late Jacques Rivette, Francis Ford Coppola...I'm pretty sure there are more I'd put on the same level as those filmmakers if not higher, and it's something that always stood out to me because as mentioned elsewhere I've always had reservations about this film. (I love Visconti but I never thought this was among his best work, inferior to at least half of his 14 feature films.) I know I'm not the only skeptic, but there are just as many, if not more, who adore it, so it's one of those I go back to every now and then to see if it plays differently for me. I hope they get more extras, but otherwise, I'll probably just dig up what's already been published (like Rivette's writings on it wherever they may be).

[Maltic]

Not that it's easy to get any of them for a supplemental interview, but I thought there were quite a few name directors who thought the world of this film. Martin Scorsese, the late Jacques Rivette, Francis Ford Coppola...I'm pretty sure there are more I'd put on the same level as those filmmakers if not higher, and it's something that always stood out to me because as mentioned elsewhere I've always had reservations about this film. (I love Visconti but I never thought this was among his best work, inferior to at least half of his 14 feature films.) I know I'm not the only skeptic, but there are just as many, if not more, who adore it, so it's one of those I go back to every now and then to see if it plays differently for me. I hope they get more extras, but otherwise, I'll probably just dig up what's already been published (like Rivette's writings on it wherever they may be).

Generally not worth the effort, IMO. As with the Criterion closet, you'll usually get just a brief "introduction" which could've been provided by an intern or the guy in the mailroom.

There are exceptions, of course.

[domino harvey]

There is certainly a coalition of members here who don’t enjoy this but, like, this is Canon 101 and one of the greatest films of all time. I certainly heard about it from the Cahiers crew way back in the day

[Matt]

I keep giving myself chances to come around to it, but it still never clicks for me, despite my willingness to embrace anything Delon is in. For me, it's the final film in Visconti's Boring Trilogy, following Senso and Le notti bianche. Since the last time I've seen it, though, I've watched dozens of other Italian films from the late '50s and early '60s, so maybe I'll be able to situate it in its context a little better this time. I'll wait for reviews, because it seems like the BFI is going through a bit of a rough patch with their discs right now.

[ryannichols7]

I keep giving myself chances to come around to it, but it still never clicks for me, despite my willingness to embrace anything Delon is in. For me, it's the final film in Visconti's Boring Trilogy, following Senso and Le notti bianche. Since the last time I've seen it, though, I've watched dozens of other Italian films from the late '50s and early '60s, so maybe I'll be able to situate it in its context a little better this time. I'll wait for reviews, because it seems like the BFI is going through a bit of a rough patch with their discs right now.

I think Le Notti Bianche is a masterpiece and loathe this one. tastes!

Simone is one of the worst characters in all of film. I genuinely don't think I could revisit this one

[Lowry_Sam]

For me, it's the final film in Visconti's Boring Trilogy, following Senso and Le notti bianche.

For me that trilogy would be Senso, The Leopard, & Death In Venice. Rocco and his Brothers is easily my favorite Visconti. I wonder if Criterion will pick it up from Milestone for the UHD.

[hearthesilence]

Well, given the variety of opinions on display, I figure might as well go through his filmography and pick out the favorites:

Ossessione
La terra trema
Bellissima
Senso
Le notti bianche
Il gattopardo / The Leopard
L'innocente

The rest I either dislike (e.g. Ludwig) or have mixed feelings about (e.g. Rocco and His Brothers) or have not seen (e.g. Sandra).

[ryannichols7]

For me, it's the final film in Visconti's Boring Trilogy, following Senso and Le notti bianche.

For me that trilogy would be Senso, The Leopard, & Death In Venice. Rocco and his Brothers is easily my favorite Visconti. I wonder if Criterion will pick it up from Milestone for the UHD.

was thinking about Criterion/Milestone partnering for a UHD of this one, especially since Criterion is quite pro Visconti. we've had two Milestone collabs so far and both were 4Ks. it seems to be Milestone will generally partner with Criterion for 4K and Kino for regular Bluray titles (hence My Brother's Wedding and Queen Kelly coming from Kino), but either way it'll be interesting to see. wonder if Criterion would port the BFI commentary...

Well, given the variety of opinions on display, I figure might as well go through his filmography and pick out the favorites:

the only one that works for me so far is Le Notti Bianche (but I really, really love it), though The Leopard is okay and I suspect it'll work for me on a future rewatch. I do need to watch the other ones Radiance released...and they are putting out another this year (likely Ossessione or Bellissima)

[TechnicolorAcid]

I myself certainly haven’t seen enough Visconti to judge him as a filmmaker, although I will say that I love The Leopard, but Rocco and His Brothers is nevertheless a very special film to me because it was the first ever foreign language film I ever caught on TV and one that left me wanting to seek out the whole thing one day so this release is finally an excuse for me to stop procrastinating and finally see the whole film (I think I stumbled on it when I was channel surfacing and ended up watching a TCM stream of it).

[domino harvey]

I’ve seen them all, here’s the real ranking

Rocco
Il lavoro
La notti bianche
La terra trema

the Leopard
Sandra
Conversation Piece

Senso
Ossessione
L’innocente

Death in Venice
the Damned
Ludwig
the Stranger
whatever the Witches segment is called
Bellissima

[Mr Sausage]

I've seen a scant 6 Visconti's, but outside of La notti bianche, which really moved me, he's not a filmmaker that gets a strong reaction from me. I saw Rocco a long time ago, remember liking it, but not much else.

[andyli]

That cover is a sorry sight, especially in contrast to the gorgeous MoC blu. This is a title that I'd like to eventually upgrade to 4K but I'm not rushing to get the BFI edition.

[rrenault]

I’ll probably have to wait and see before preordering this. I’m guessing it’ll use the same 4K master as MOC’s Blu-ray, which was encoded by FiM.

[Drucker]

I’ve seen them all, here’s the real ranking

Rocco
Il lavoro
La notti bianche
La terra trema

the Leopard
Sandra
Conversation Piece

Senso
Ossessione
L’innocente

Death in Venice
the Damned
Ludwig
the Stranger
whatever the Witches segment is called
Bellissima

I've only seen Bellissima once but I remember enjoying it. How can you put it below The Stranger?

[domino harvey]

There is no wiggle room there, I found it completely insufferable

Bellissima goes on the short list of movies you could not pay me to watch again. WHAT is it WITH Italian COMEDIES and YELLING every fucking LINE at EACH OTHER?!?!

[Zot!]

There is no wiggle room there, I found it completely insufferable

Bellissima goes on the short list of movies you could not pay me to watch again. WHAT is it WITH Italian COMEDIES and YELLING every fucking LINE at EACH OTHER?!?!

Ha ha, at the risk of being branded culturally insensitive or worse, the Italians are a demonstrative people. You'll not see this kind of behavior in a Kaurismäki movie.

[Mr Sausage]

I wonder if this is a feature of more extroverted cultures. Hong Kong comedies are LOUD.

[Michael Kerpan]

But a lot of Johnnie To's (later) comedies are more restrained than the HK average. So, I can handle THEM.

[MichaelB]

It's a good couple of decades since I saw Bellissima, but I remember enjoying it—particularly Anna Magnani's human whirlwind. But I suspect I'm rather more in tune with Italian comedies generally, possibly because I've spent a decent amount of time in Italy itself, with more than one stint lasting several weeks at a time. In fact, without wishing to give away too much, I'm working on a commedia sexy all'italiana release right now.

And yes, it's rarely hard to distinguish between an Italian and a Finn, even from a discreet distance.

[Lowry_Sam]

I've always felt that Visconti lost something in his color films, but that is the case (for me) for all Italian directors from that era including Fellini. In contrast I found that the films of northern Europeans fared better in the shift to color (e.g. Bergman, Demy, Godard, Tati, though definetely not Bresson) than for Italians.

Having been married to an Italian for 10 years & being of northern disposition (stoic, rational, internally focused) myself, I can say (at least for me) there is an attraction to the southern for those traits (passion, emotion, religiosity) to counterbalance my own tendencies, which is why I (generally) prefer Italian post-WWII film to French (who while sharing a mix of the 2, still trend towards northern). That being said, there is also the same divide within Italy with Northerners looking down on Southerners (who tend to be the ones - particularly Sicilian- from which the broader Italian stereotype & particularly the Italian American stereotype derives). As a result, the more "loud" "emotional" etc. characters of Italian film might also serve to overshadow the finer points & differences/politics that Italians can notice, but become lost on outsiders.

[MichaelB]

I'm not married to an Italian, but I am married to someone of Greek descent who is also not naturally given to restraint. Family gatherings in Crete are an absolute riot.

And yes, I too have witnessed the Italian north-south divide in practice, not least when working in a group with two Italians at university; one from Milan, the other from Rome. They might as well have been different nationalities altogether, and they may well have felt that way! And I used to have a Californian girlfriend of Sicilian extraction, who'd never been to the mother country, so we decided to start at the top and work our way downwards—and I did most of the talking in the early stages (as I learned Tuscan Italian), while she increasingly took over the further south we got (as she'd learned it from her Sicilian grandmother), and by the time we actually got to Sicily she was jabbering away like a native while I barely understood a word. I understand the dialect gap is substantially greater than that between, say, London and Glasgow.

[Never Cursed]

Sicilian is now considered by linguists an entirely separate language from Italian, for what it's worth