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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pasolini on Chaucer, December 29, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Canterbury Tales (DVD)
I was fortunate enough to purchase this DVD when originally issued, not so with Pasolini's other films. I had seen this film almost a year before buying it, and while it's not a GREAT movie it is still better than some. First off, the picture quality is not great, due to the museum conditions the print seems to have been stored under. This leads one to believe that not many prints survived. Using a mostly British cast adds as much realism to the film as can be mustered. The humour is typically bawdy and quite perverse at times (as in Satan farting out the monks ). I am quite sure that Chaucer would have been proud of this film of his work. The only problem i have with the picture is the uneven cinematography. Tonino Delli Colli's work has greatly improved since, but in this film is either over-saturated with light or is too dark. His ultimate camera work is in Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, but apart from the inconsistancies with lighting he is a quite capable cameraman. One wonders what use Pasolini could have made with Giuseppe Rotunno or Luciano Tovoli. Other people might have a problem with Pasolini's inclusion of homosexual love scenes, but they are quite subdued from being actual pornography. And although Pasolini was himself homosexual, he doesn't throw it the viewer's face as being all-important. All in all, the film is quite deserving of the NC-17 rating which my DVD copy carries. Too bad the United Artists logo doesn't appear at the beginning since they distributed the film in the early 70's
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Chaucer's Tales Brought to Life, June 19, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Canterbury Tales (DVD)
Writer and director Pasolini presents a selection of Chaucer's stories, most notably The Wife of Bath and The Miller's Tale. The Canterbury Tales is not without its weaknesses. The quality of the acting is variable (the dubbing doesn't help), and the editing is rough. Some stories end/start so abruptly that it takes you by surprise. However, I can forgive this film almost anything. For me, the atmosphere and feel it conveys far outweigh any faults it may have. Pasolini has recreated Chaucer's lusty medieval world with an earthy realism, exuberance, and zest for life in a way that few other directors could have managed. People who are easily shocked should beware. Pasolini has concentrated on the bawdier aspects of the tales, and added few of his own for good measure. It all combines to give The Canterbury Tales a wonderful hedonistic quality. The finale, a vivid depiction of Hell, makes for a superbly appropriate ending.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
This is a mighty peculiar film..., October 7, 1999
By A Customer
It's certainly not a faithful adaptation of Chaucer's work, if that's what you're looking for. It includes four segments that are fairly faithful tellings of tales (Merchant's, Miller's, Reeve's, Pardoner's), along with bits that take one or two elements from different tales but don't really go all the way, and quite a number of unspeakably bizarre bits that have absolutely nothing to do with the source work. Extraordinarily strange, with less-than-impressive acting/dubbing, but sort of entertaining anyway. And...do my eyes deceive me, or is one of the extras in the first scene that guy (Nicholas something) from Are You Being Served?
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