333 Fists in the Pocket

[Michael]

Is that the Andy Mulligan film made about 3 years after Fists in the Pocket?

[Matt]

Is that the Andy Milligan film made about 3 years after Fists in the Pocket?

Well, maybe he just saw it and thought, "Shit, even I can do better than this."

[Michael]

he's the most glowering, sinister-looking fucker you ever saw.

Well of course the viewers recognize that but everyone in the film seems to be blind and buys his deceivingly boyish, innocent looks.

[Narshty]

Huh? Exaggerating? Who are you to judge the way I feel about movies? So fuck off.

OK, you're totally serious. That's cool. I misjudged your tone and apologise for any offence incurred.

Well of course the viewers recognize that but everyone in the film seems to be blind and buys his deceivingly boyish, innocent looks.

Seriously now, look at him:



That's his face for half the movie right there, and when he isn't doing that, he's frowning and staring at the floor. I agree the other characters inexplicably don't seem to think anything of it, but it's one of the reasons I found the film shrill, absurd and tediously repetitive.

I'll say it again: watching Fists in the Pocket instead of Seeds of Sin is like picking Tombstone when you can have My Darling Clementine.

[Guest]

This is the Italian edition of the Bellocchio's masterpiece. The video is equal to that Criterion but the extras are more interesting because there is an excellent audio commentary of the director and Paola Pitagora and there is also the first Bellocchio's short entitled “I lower the uncleâ€

[Michael]

I agree the other characters inexplicably don't seem to think anything of it, but it's one of the reasons I found the film shrill, absurd and tediously repetitive.

Exactly. The fact that the family members fail to detect or don't want to admit that Sandro is a nuclear bomb to the family. The absurdity of that is what makes the film for me.. not only that but I also really love how the villa and its surrounding climate are used to signify the decaying of the family. Outside the villa, Sandro doesn't flip out like he always does - like a kiddie maniac - inside his home. He is more reserved and quiet out in the public.. girls even hit on him at the dance. The fact that people around him seem to be immune to him is what makes the film very creepy and unsettling. We all have to agree that Sandro looks somewhat like a young boy unlike his two brothers. He's not bad looking. Psychotic or not, people do get away with their young or good looks.

I'll say it again: watching Fists in the Pocket instead of Seeds of Sin is like picking Tombstone when you can have My Darling Clementine.

I haven't seen Seeds of Sin but based on your recommendation, I netflixed it. Better be good despite its overload of bad reviews.

[solent]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned but there is an easter egg on the disc.

Go to the subtitles page & click above the "on/off" button where it says "subtitles" and you get 5 posters [2 Italian, 3 Asian] of the film.

[colinr0380]

Senses of Cinema article on the film.

[Fesapo]

I've only just now gotten around to watching this film and in doing some follow-up reading about it I was surprised to learn from this piece that Luis Bunuel numbered among the film's many detractors when it first debuted back in '65. Surprised, that is, because knowing what I know of Bunuel (savage satirist/critic of bourgeois attitudes and religion), I'd have thought both the choice of targets in the film as well as its subversive tone would have appealed to him. Can anybody suggest what might have bugged Bunuel so much about it? Thanks!

[Steven H]

There was an interview with Bunuel included in the published English translated script for Belle de jour where he said: "I've seen Fists in the Pockets — I don't find it the slightest bit interesting; it's repulsive and far too facile. It's really completely overdone — the blind mother, the retarded brother... the son putting his feet on the mother's coffin — it's too easy... While he was at it, why not show him shitting on his mother's head? It's the only thing he spared us."

[Numero Trois]

I have only seen two later films by Bellocchio, despite a prolific filmography - Diavolo in Corpo (Devil in the Flesh 1987) and Enrico Quattro (from the Pirandello 1985) and they are both quite dull, and surprisingly uninvolving. Anyone seen any others?

Dull and turgid seems to describe most of Bellocchio's latter day work. I've seen Diavolo in Corpo, L'ora di religione (My Mother's Smile, 2002), La Balia(1999), Buongiorno, notte (Good Morning, Night; 2003), and Il regista di matrimoni (The Wedding Director, 2006). One thing that characterizes most of these is an unrelenting grimness that suffocates the narrative like a wet blanket. Bellocchio's authorial voice is a monotone. This lack of variation can make his films tough to get through.

....Which is why Buongiorno, notte was such a surprise. A recounting of the Aldo Moro kidnapping with a Red Brigade member as the main character, the film is graceful and psychologically penetrating in its breakdown of the relationship between hostage, kidnappers and the Italian society at large. Especially chilling was the use of the guitar refrain from Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" as a framing device. It's one of the best films of the decade. If only his other films had such an emotional pull.

I was terribly disappointed by DEVIL IN THE FLESH, not by NoShame's disc, but in the movie itself. Dull, unexpurgated blow jobs included.

Bellocchio's point of references for his movies are very Italian. Maybe they play better if one is intimately acquainted with the country. Certainly, the documentary included with the DVD clarified a lot of things about the movie. But in the end it's still an insular self indulgent mess. Incidentally, in the VHS edition the bj scene clearly took place at night. It was very darkly lit; you could barely make out anything. At the very least it was nicely atmospheric with some very nice Carlo Crivelli violin music. Whoever was in charge of the NoShame edition chose to light that scene up as bright as day. Not a good choice.

Incidentally, Thompson goes on to remark that Bellocchio later made a film called Gli Occhi, la Bocca / The Eyes, The Mouth, a sort-of sequel to Fists, also featuring Lou Castel, and incorporating footage of the earlier film into the main body. Thompson claims it's one of the finest films of the eighties. I had a brief hope Criterion might combine both films into a two-pack, but oh well. Has anybody seen The Eyes, The Mouth or know anything else about it?

Haven't seen it yet. It's in my kevyip pile. Maybe if it screams louder.... The VHS edition can still be found at dirt cheap prices.

[GaryC]

But in the end it's still an insular self indulgent mess. Incidentally, in the VHS edition the bj scene clearly took place at night. It was very darkly lit; you could barely make out anything.

I saw Devil in the Flesh theatrically in the early 90s, at the now-defunct Piccadilly Film Festival in London. My memory may be playing tricks, but I don't remember that scene as being particularly darkly lit.

Five people walked out as a result of it though.

As I remember for a two-hour film with a sexy reputation, there are only two sex scenes in the whole film - as well as the blow job scene, there's an energetic missionary-position scene. Oh and Marushka Detmers is nude for quite a bit more running time, so maybe that's sexy enough for most.

[knives]

This didn't work for me at all, meaning only his contribution to Love and Anger is a success of what I've seen, with one particular element nagging me as the film being a stupid one.

Spoiler

Why not throw Castel in jail after the death of the mother? Everyone knows he did it and they know they're next thanks to the car thing. Any clear thinking film would have to end there. I'm sure some will say that the film is working in metaphor or satire or something else allowing for some unreal choices. Fine, but Pasolini's Teorema has a similar incestual violence going on in a very unreal world and the characters make a coherent sense in their behaviors in light of their character. That among many other examples show that a metaphor or a theme is not an excuse for bad character development and plotting.

[FrauBlucher]

Yeah, this was awful for me. Plus, I didn't feel the character warranted that. What did she do? She seemed the sanest character.

[knives]

I can understand the thematic reasons for it, but that doesn't mean it was well presented nor was the followup sensible.

[McNulty]

https://www.criterion.com/films/348-fists-in-the-pocket

Blu-ray upgrade coming Sep 3rd

[movielocke]

It seems they're not upgrading the DVD version, which would make it the first non box set upgrade to not have the 2nd edition issued to DVD as well.

[knives]

They often do that when they aren't changing transfers.

Edit: Never mind. Just saw the 4K. They usually update the cover as well for that sort of situation.

[domino harvey]

There’s a new interview not carried over to the DVD, so this is indeed something different

[movielocke]

There’s a new interview not carried over to the DVD, so this is indeed something different

I would guess if the dvd print run ever runs out the new pressing becomes the second edition like the Blu-ray. Or they never reprint the dvd and it just goes pop like the dvd box set of Bergman or BRD

They updated the cover art, they put a wacky c on the Blu-ray.

[dwk]

Fists in the Beaver

[DarkImbecile]

Obvious in retrospect, yet I did not see it coming

[brundlefly]

Pamela Anderson in the closet, with an interesting comment about an upcoming film she is in being based on Bellocchio's Fists In The Pocket (and adapted by Efthimis Filippou, of most of the Yorgos Lanthimos films), which on looking it up on imdb is called "Rosebush Pruning" and also features Elle Fanning, Jamie Bell and the notorious DVD collector Tracy Letts amongst the cast!

Trailer. Directed by Karim Aïnouz (The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão).