I pugni in tasca (1965)

Director:

Marco Bellocchio

Writer:

Marco Bellocchio (writer)

Release Date:

27 May 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Horror

Plot:

Ale, a deeply disturbed young man subject to seizures benignly decides to murder members of his dysfunctional family for altruistic reasons.

Plot Keywords:

Epileptic | Dysfunctional Family | Love | Blind Mother | Murder

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Lou Castel	...	Alessandro
Paola Pitagora	...	Giulia
Marino Masé	...	Augusto
Liliana Gerace	...	Mother
Stefania Troglio	...	Chambermaid
Jeannie McNeil	...	Lucia
Mauro Martini	...	The boy
Gianni Schicchi	...	Tonino
Alfredo Filippazzi	...	Doctor
Gianfranco Cella	...	Young man at the party
Celestina Bellocchio	...	Young Woman at Party
Pier Luigi Troglio	...	Leone
Irene Agnelli	...	Bruna
Sandra Bergamini
Lella Bertante

Also Known As:

Fist in His Pocket (USA)
Fists in the Pocket (UK)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Italy:VM14 | West Germany:18

Company:

Doria

Trivia:

Director Marco Bellocchio borrowed money from his family to be able to make this film, which is actually a frontal assault on family values.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: During the final scene when Alesandro is having an attack, you can see the camera shadow several times; for instance on the bed.

Quotes:

Alessandro: I'm a volcano of ideas.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Gli occhi, la bocca (1982)

A masterpiece!

The first time I saw Fists in the Pocket, I was 7 or 8 years old and I thought the film was a horror movie because of its gruesome subject matter. It had freaked me a lot then. Today, after viewing it for the first time in its entirety, and though I don't think the film can be considered to be an all and out horror flick, I still think there's enough gruesome and eerie qualities to this drama to call it an authentic neo-horror film. A horror film with intelligence. Unlike Hitchcock (no, I'm not saying his films aren't intelligent) or the plethora of other less subtle horror films, where the horror or terror is mostly obvious and played for thrills to manipulate an audience, in Fists the disturbing aspects aren't played out for thrills. They're there to show the sad situation in which the characters exist. Because of this, the film has a true morbid atmosphere, quasi-Gothic in nature, that permeates it from beginning to end. The characters inability to see the horrifying things they do or think (for most part of the narrative) makes this film absolutely unique in film history. It's a vivid "intimate" portrait of a dysfunctional family that's almost a cerebral horror film.

Simply put, it's brilliant!

The actors are all excellent but Lou Castel's performance as the frustrated, crazed, death obsessed brother is mesmerizing. You can't take your eyes off him. And even though it was made in 1965, the film feels contemporary, mainly because of its refusal to amplify and exploit it shocking aspects or the characters' foibles to heights of schlock or melodrama. Plus, the fluid direction gives this morbid drama (which could have easily been heavy and static) a deceptively "normal" quality which works perfectly and adds even more to all of the characters' sad state of mind. The film is equally claustrophobic and expansive; claustrophobic with the (very) tight interiors and the family drama that (like one of the characters of the film wants to do) makes you want to break free and escape at all cost; and expansive because of the Italian countryside that surrounds these doomed characters. The scenery, natural and man-made, is a character of its own, seemingly symbolizing the characters precipitous existence but also overwhelmingly vast, stark and crushing, dwarfing the already tightly-knit family down to minuscule size, which then heightens their already claustrophobic existence that much more. Ennio Morricone's score is characteristically moody & chilling and complements the film perfectly.

Fists in the Pocket is a very earthy, grounded, morbid & blunt portrait of a doomed family! A must-see for those who love "pure" cinema.