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Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero: Filmed mostly on the streets in newly-liberated territory, Roberto Rossellini’s gripping war-related shows are blessed with new restorations but still reflect their rough origins. The second picture, the greater masterpiece, looks as if it were improvised out of sheer artistic will.

Roberto Rosselini’s War Trilogy

Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 500 (497, 498, 499)

1945-1948 / B&W / 1:37 & 1:33 flat full frame / 302 minutes / Street Date July 11, 2017 / available from the Criterion Collection 79.96

Starring: Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani; Dots Johnson, Harriet White Medin; Edmund Moeschke, Franz-Otto Krüger.

Cinematography: Ubaldo Arata; Otello Martelli; Robert Julliard.

Film Editor: Eraldo Da Roma

Original Music: Renzo Rossellini

Written by Sergio Amidei, Alberto Consiglio, Federico Fellini; Klaus Mann, Marcello Pagliero, Alfred Hayes, Vasco Pratolini; Max Kolpé, Carlo Lizzani.

Directed by Roberto Rossellini

Criterion released an identical-for-content DVD set of this trilogy in 2010; the new Blu-ray...

Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Mubi is playing General Della Rovere (1959) in the United States September 1 - 30, 2016.For a time, it seemed Roberto Rossellini was ready to leave behind the devastation of World War II, a milieu he as much as anyone helped to indelibly commit to cinematic memory with his Neorealist masterworks. While a traumatized psyche remained in films that followed his trilogy of Rome, Open City (1945), Paisan (1946), and Germany Year Zero (1948), it was revealed via a more subtle manifestation of conflict related angst. Rossellini had moved beyond explicit depictions of the war and its aftermath, even while lingering psychological effects still abound (see his collaborations with Ingrid Bergman). This would change in 1959, with the release of General Della Rovere, Rossellini's first full-fledged wartime film in more than 10 years. While not of the caliber of these earlier titles (not really even in...

‘Rome, Open City’ movie returns: 4K digital restoration of Roberto Rossellini masterpiece at London’s BFI Southbank (photo: Anna Magnani in ‘Rome, Open City’) A restored digital print of Roberto Rossellini’s best-known film, Rome, Open City / Roma, città aperta is currently enjoying an extended run — until April 5, 2014 — at London’s BFI Southbank. Inspired by real-life events and made right after the liberation of Rome, Rome, Open City stars Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani, Marcello Pagliero, and Maria Michi. Though not a local box office hit at the time of its release, Rome, Open City, shot with a minuscule budget in the ravaged streets of Rome, became one of the most influential movies ever made. Its raw look, "documentary" feel, and scenes shot on location (though studio sets were used as well) inspired not only other Italian directors of the post-war years, but filmmakers everywhere, including those in Hollywood (e.g.

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son – Martin Lawrence, Brandon T. Jackson, Jessica Lucas

I Am Number Four – Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Dianna Agron

Unknown – Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones

Movie of the Week

Unknown

The Stars: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones

The Plot: A man (Neeson) awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity. With the help of a young woman (Kruger), he sets out to prove who he is.

The Buzz: Liam Neeson rocks. So happy to see his career is still in full swing. There have been a couple missable films on his most recent filmography (Clash of the Titans, The A-Team), but those were smaller roles, and he’s had his fair share of ‘must sees’ over the past few years (Taken, Five Minutes of Heaven, Chloe). The trailer for Unknown was thoroughly enticing.

Starring: Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider, Maria Michi

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci

The Scoop: (1972) Considered one of the most controversial films of all time, Brando earned an Oscar nod for portraying a middle-aged American in Paris who has an affair with a young Frenchwoman. Bertolucci was nominated for Best Director, an honor that didn't help him in his home country of Italy, where all copies of the film -- which was No. 1 at the box office at the time -- were seized by police. He was later found guilty on obscenity charges and had his civil rights revoked for five years.

Rated Nc-17, 136 min. | Watch the trailer...