For years I've been hearing about Pier Paolo Pasolini, a contemporary and compatriot of Federico Fellini. He was an early advocate of Surrealism, and the kind of Dadaist filmmaking Fellini later became known for. Unfortunately, Pasolini was also gay in an era when that was not accepted, and he ended up at age 53 being killed by being repeatedly run over by his own car. The killer was never definitively identified.
Anyway, I've never seen any of his films on sale for anything less than exorbitant prices. When I ran across a used and affordable copy of "The Canterbury Tales" this weekend, 2nd in his "Trilogy of Life" films, I had to snap it up, even though it was PAL region 2.
I only made it about 20 minutes in.
The problems are many. First, it's very stagy, with characters running around in elaborate colorful costumes inside a bare stone church. Second, the dialog was dubbed in after the fact, with zero attempt to synchronize the sound with the actors' lips. The actors' voices are very stagy, yelled out in hysterical manner. The characters are all over-the-top, with exaggerated makeup and facial expressions (kinda like Fellini). All this gives it the look & feel of a poorly-staged junior high school play.
The dialog is in Italian with English subtitles.
The plot is, umm, surrealistic. Things happen, don't ask why.
Pasolini's treatment of sexuality and bawdy humor was considered revolutionary in 1972. It is less so today.
I shall try to finish this film some day, but I'm pretty sure I won't be paying exorbitant prices for any others.
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