Domenica d'agosto

Saw on YouTube August 4, 2019, i.e., a Sunday in August. I had never heard of this movie before YouTube announced it, and other than Marcello Mastroianni, the personnel, including director Luciano Emmer, all unfamiliar to me.

The camera work and cutting are superb. The YouTube print with subtitles was crystal clear.

The movie simply serves up a day at the beach, a day made up of multiple stories of the assorted beach goers. Emmer's direction may be described as neorealistic but accomplished with a touch considerably lighter than what is seen movies such as the nearby Umberto D (1951). This movie proves that neorealism does not reside entirely on the dark side.

It may be kinder and gentler, but the believability of the action is maintained at all times. I especially enjoyed the boy-meets-girl story featuring Anna Baldini, offering moments touching and plausible in about equal measure. Who knows, maybe some of the relatives of the Roman beach goers were on Coney Island during the time of the film's action, and if they were, the stories would have been hardly different, except for a forced detour around the minefield in "Domenica".

The movie's ancestors include "People on Sunday" (1930, original title Menschen am Sontag) directed by Siodmak, Ulmer, et al., as well as the many early silent films shot with the camera planted on the beach as people clothed from head to toe frolicked in grainy waves.

Strong recommendation.