Oedipus Rex
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Year Released: 1967
Rating: 3.0
Admirable free-adaptation of Sophocles' play by Pasolini - it's not a film that immediately works on the consciousness, I think, with its sometimes irksome combination of pretentious seriousness and amateur elements, but I found it to be memorable in the long-term. The acting is a problem - Pasolini liked to use non-professionals - but the combination of the directors' abstract approach to storytelling (since there's very little dialogue, the conversations are almost 'telepathic'!), beautifully barren landscapes (it was shot mostly in Morocco) and innovative camera work (the violent swordfights are made surreal by shooting into the sun, effectively burning large patches of white light onto the frame) compensate. Pasolini referred to it as an autobiography - he despised his father and adored his mother - so there were certainly personal reasons for making it.
