Killer of Sheep (1978) and director Charles Burnett in person

On July 26, 2019  I attended a screening of Killer of Sheep at the University of Chicago, sponsored by several film student groups. I've never seen the movie, but knew of its reputation as a landmark independent film about African American life in the 1970s inner city, and knew that it's a movie that is often shown to college students.

It was a really good film; I really enjoyed it. It's very simple, no traditional plot structure. But I love the scenes of ordinary life, centered around one family living in South Central Los Angeles. The father (Stan) works in a slaughterhouse. There are some great scenes with his wife, kids, and friends, as well as some other characters we meet for only a scene or two, but they're memorable (including some people Stan meets in a liquor store). More often than not, characters plan to do something promising, only to have their dreams shatter, which of course happens in real-life.

The director, Charles Burnett, appeared in person afterwards and talked about the making of the film; it was a college project for him that took several years to finish because of licensing rights to songs (there are alot of good songs in it). He also talked about how almost everyone in the film was one of his friends. He lived in Watts, Los Angeles in the '60s, so he was very familiar the community.

Q&A with Burnett at the University of Chicago

There was also a time of Q&A which was really interesting, too; about a dozen people had questions. One person commented that the film was reminiscent of Italian neo-realism, and asked Burnett if any films of that era influenced him. He said, yes, and mentioned that he had numerous opportunities to see a lot of international films on the college campus and elsewhere in LA. He remembered going to all of the latest film from well-known international directors, and said some of them came to his campus to speak occasionally; one was Satyajit Ray. Burnett talked more about his college days, and said that he often had discussions with his friends and classmates about what constitutes "a black film". With Black Sheep, he said he intended for it to be a film about the community for the community to see, and only expected it to be shown locally. Someone else asked him about what he thought about being part of the "New Rebellion" of black filmmakers; he said that he doesn't like labels, but he praised other filmmakers part of the movement.

Now I really want to see his follow-up movie, My Brother's Wedding. I have seen To Sleep With Anger and The Glass Shield many years ago and want to watch them again as well.

Also, I found an interesting review from the New York Times from 1978, below.

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'Killer of Sheep' Is Shown at the Whitney: Nonprofessional Cast

By Janet Maslin | November 14, 1978

"Killer of Sheep," which opens today at the Whitney Museum, is a film to make one mindful of the difference between genuinely abstract art and iciness for its own sake.

The program notes say that Charles Burnett, the director, thinks the idea of the film "is to try to recreate a situation without reducing life to a simple plot," but his film has just enough of a story to make it taxing.

The action, which of course is hardly supposed to be action at all, revolves around a black man whose only measure of prosperity is the fact that he's well enough off to give things to the Salvation Army. He is remote and depressed. His wife is bored and sexually frustrated, and she's depressed, too.

He has two children, whom we see eating breakfast and scratching and walking around the neighborhood. He has a lot of young and reasonably attractive male friends who live with grotesquely bloated women; sometimes the men get together and fix cars, or worry.

The central character works in a slaughterhouse, hence the none-too-apt title.

To all this monotony and alienation Mr. Burnett brings an estrangement of his own.

The film consists of loosely linked glimpses of the characters' lives, punctuated by occasional cuts to the slaughterhouse. It is acted by non-professionals, who call attention to the falseness of many of the situations.

It is beautifully photographed in black and white, and very spare.

The dialogue, which is read with either insufficient or excessive emphasis by the nonactors, is often buried under a soundtrack of vintage blues, making it doubly hard to follow.

Even the slaughter of the sheep is numbingly uneventful.That may be Mr. Burnett's very point, but he makes it so studiedly that the character's estrangement from his surroundings overlaps too conveniently with the director's arty detachment from his material.

And for all its air of starkness, "Killer of Sheep" is more often arid than it is genuinely economical. Mr. Burnett obviously has a keen eye for tiny moments — the way a child pulls up a sock, the way a man's hands move on machinery — but he doesn't demonstrate the kind of coherence that might give them larger meaning.

 Nonprofessional Cast KILLER OF SHEEP, by Charles Burnett, Principal performers are Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, and Angela Burnett. At the Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue. Running time: 87 minutes.

I Vitelloni (1953) by Fellini

Italian. 101 Minutes. Directed by Federico Fellini. Beautiful music score by Nino Rota.  Starring Franco Fabrizi (1926-1995), Alberto Sordi (1920-2003), Franco Interlenghi (1931 - )

Fellini's comedy-drama about a group of five slacker best friends in a post WWII Italian town.  The title translates into "good-for-nothings".  In America, these guys might be called "bums", or even "mama's boys". They are healthy young men, and have no excuse not to look for a job. They just lack ambition. When one character does find a job, he gets fired soon afterward due to his misbehavior. So they continue to walk the streets, shoot pool, and pretty much waste time.   A song by The Dave Matthews Band came to my mind after seeing this film, "Wasting Time".

The men in the movie are old enough to have served in the war, but there is no mention of WW2 in this film. I Vitelloni is often called a "neo-realist" film, but there is debate about that. Films usually considered neo-realist are usually grittier (Open City, The Bicycle Thief ), have more of a political message, and are not as off-beat as I Vitelloni. .

The characters are all interesting.

There is a playwright character, Leopoldo (Leopoldo Trieste), who dreams his plays will one day get noticed. In one sequence, he meets an actor he admires and who expresses great interest in his work. You'll have to see the movie to find out what happens next.

Fellini cast his own brother Riccardo Fellini as another member of the group. (Riccardo resembles his brother, actually) In one scene, Riccardo expresses his dissatisfaction with his town by calling it "a rat hole". His character is not full developed, and we know the least about him. However, I don't think this is a major flaw of the film.

The character with the most screen time is the character of Fausto, a real ladies' man. He's played by the actor Franco Fabrizi . Even when married (and with a child to support) he still can't give up his womanizing.

Many filmmakers were inspired by this film. Some of Woody Allen's characters can be found in the men of I Vitorelli, such as Leopoldo (and his encounter with the director) and Fausto, who has been compared to Judah in Crimes and Misdemeanors.  George Lucas also loved this film; the episodic storytelling and hijinks of the immature characters influenced his American Graffiti. And the opening narration where the characters are introduced is just like how Martin Scorsese opened Goodfellas

I think Fellini's own personality can be found in several of these characters. Certainly the writer Leopoldo. Maybe a little of the womanizing of Fausto, who has a conscience in the form of his best friend Moraldo (Franco Interlenghi). I think Moraldo is Fellini. Both despise the hypocrisy and laziness of those around him, and both have bigger dreams somewhere else, in another town (Fellini loved Rome, of course)

There is another minor character a young boy who befriends Moraldo named Guido. Could this be the Guido who grows up to be the character in 8-1/2? An interesting thought. One of the last shots of the film shows him walking on a train rail into the distance, and it sort of reminded me of the end of a Chaplin film.

Though the film doesn't discuss the war, there are a few elements that remind us that the film takes place in post war Italy. First of all, the poor economic conditions. Also, the characters in the film talk about Esther Williams, Ginger Rogers, and other American movie stars. This was a period where Italians were enjoying American films for the first time in years because such films were not brought into Italy under Mussolini.

Other than some of these elements, I think the human nature of I Vitelloni is timeless, and this story could really take place in any decade, even in modern times. As mentioned previously, It's almost a statement (Fellini's statement) against the lack of ambition of these characters, and Fellini (a real life go-getter) is sort of critical of it. The Moraldo character represents this. However, it does make you think about families in general as well.

In American society these days, if a young man in his 20s or 30s is single and lives in the basement of his parent's house, that raises a "red flag" among some single women. They're laughed at. Single women want a "real man". But in some cultures, living with your family is perfectly acceptable.

There's a great scene in I Vitelloni where Alberto Sordi's sister storms out of the house and leaves town, and Sordi is left to be the sole caretaker for his aging mother. Without a job, he is faced with the reality that he needs to find work - and put down the bottle. Scenes like this show that these characters have heart, and are devoted to their families (Although Fausto remains questionable). Additionally, religious characters for the most part are treated with reverence and respect in this film (Fellini is a bit more critical of the Roman Catholic church in his later films).

This is a fascinating movie, filled with emotional dramatic moments, balanced with humor and comedic touches that are very funny. (Available on DVD/Netflix).