Due to my absence in this weeks class, I decided to focus on the ideas that the readings presented for this week. The readings discussed the idea of Art Cinema which became popular after the Second World War when typical Hollywood Cinematic style began to decrease.

Art Cinema can be identified through its distinct narrative style. Opposed to typical Hollywood Cinema, Art Cinema expresses narrative in a very different way. Hollywood cinema usually explores narrative through character goals, development and achievement; Art Cinema unemploys this method and explores narrative through the psychological and emotional complexity and development of it’s character.

Art cinema usually resonates deeply with the audience as they are able to connect to the realistic qualities of the cinematic style. Art Cinema does not follow the cause-effect relationship that is prevalent in typical Hollywood Cinema and echoes a lot more poignancy due to its highly realistic qualities and situations.

For example, Neorealism is a type of Art Cinema which became increasingly popular with Italian Filmmakers after the Second World War. Typical qualities of Neorealism is the use of amateur actors and the use of a real setting rather than an already made one – e.g. Giuseppe Tornatore’s ‘Nuovo Cinema Paradiso’ (1988) explores the life of Salvatore and his passion for Cinema, and uses Tornatore’s home town Bagheria in Sicily as the set of the film.