Sushi and Baseball

Early Summer depicts a Japan in transition.  Defeated and occupied by the Americans, the Japanese both cling to their traditional ways and embrace new ideas from their occupiers.  How does the movie show this transition?  Does this movie make a judgment about the new American influence?  Is there a political slant, however subtle, in this film?  What does this movie think about baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie?

All in the Family

Early Summer shows the relationship between two aged parents, their grown children and their grandchildren. The young children are rebellious and demanding.  The grandparents try to buy their grandchildren's affection.  The parents and brother try to manage the younger sister's life.  Choices about everything from buying an expensive cake to choosing to marry (and to whom one marries) have implications for everyone.  Eventually the family so painstakingly captured in a photograph breaks up, as Noriko marries and moves to the provinces and her parents move near the great uncle.  How accurate is this portrayal of family life? Is this a "slice of life" (and part of the reason it feels as if "nothing happens")? Does this remind you of your family? Is this how families work? Focus on one scene or character and discuss what it tells us about the dynamics of family life.

The Children Are Watching Us

As Don Pietro is executed for his participation in the Resistance, his only witnesses are a group of children who whistle him a tune.  Afterward these same children march back into Rome as the movie ends.  What do your make of this ending?  Other examples of children acting and watching in the movie include Romoletto blowing up a truck and Marcello helping Don Pietro rescue Romoletto and watching his mother's murder.   What is the role of children -- and children watching adults -- in this film?

Christ or Marx?

Rome Open City portrays (even celebrates) the alliance during the Resistance between the Catholics (exemplified by Don Pietro) and the Marxists (exemplified by Manfredi) to combat the Nazis.  Both groups set aside their ideological differences and suffer together in the process.  But what is the ideology behind this movie?  What is the meaning of this suffering?  Is it the Christian idea of redemptive suffering in which an omnibenevolent God turns suffering into joy?  Or is it the Marxist idea that suffering is part of the dialectic of history leading to the inevitable Marxist state?  There are several examples of Christian iconography in this film: images of a pieta (Mary holding her dead son), crucifixion, and sacrificial lambs.  Do these images indicate a Christian interpretation of the film -- or can they be interpreted in a more secular way?  Is this a Christian or Marxist film -- or are these categories too simplistic?

How Real is Rome?

Rome, Open City is generally viewed as the first (or the first celebrated) example of Italian neo-realism, a movement know for an almost documentary-like style that included shooting on location, utilizing non-professional actors, and telling ordinary stories about ordinary, working class people.  Yet, Rome sometimes violates these rules.  Many of the most important scenes are filmed in a studio that devised an intricate set for the Gestapo office, torture room, and officer's club.  Some of the most important actors -- Aldo Fabrizi (Don Pietro) and Anna Magnani (Pina)-- are established actors (although in comic roles).  Furthermore there are elements of melodrama in the characters and plot, such as the portrayal of the Gestapo officers are cruel and sexually perverted.  Is this truly an example of "realism"?  Or is it something else?

Jigsaw Narrative

Multiple narrators tell he story of Charles Foster Kane's life.  We see his life in a newsreel format, in Thatcher's memoirs, and as told by Bernstein, Leland, Susan Alexander, and even Raymond, the butler.  What is the point of telling the story in this way?  Does each narrator give a specific "spin" or have a particular bias?  Does each see a distinctive aspect of Kane's personality?  Is each section told in a different way, utilizing different techniques of filming (such as camera angles, deep focus, lighting, or even choice of music)?  What" bang for our buck" do we get from this jigsaw narration?  Is equal to or greater than the sum of its parts?

Rosebud

Rosebud is perhaps the most famous symbol in movie history. What is the significance of the name "rosebud?" What is the significance of the sled? Is it the key to understanding Kane's life or just one missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle that does not explain much at all? A meaningful symbol or a MacGuffin? Are there other symbols in the film that are more meaningful or complement you reading of the sled (such as statues, jigsaw puzzles, Xanadu, etc)?