Metrograph

Directed by De Sica at the height of his powers, from a script by the architect of Italian neorealism, Cesare Zavattini, and anchored on an extraordinary performance by Carlo Battisti in the title role, one of several nonprofessional actors featured in the cast, Umberto D. is one of the glories of postwar Italian cinema, the simple and emotionally devastating story of a poor Italian pensioner facing eviction from his rented room and the loss of his remaining scraps of dignity, the house’s chambermaid and his little dog, Flike, the only sympathetic presences in a world that otherwise seems impossibly hostile. “The film that I perhaps love most of all and that I’ve probably seen 100 times by now.” —Ingmar Bergman

Distributor: Janus Films

Introduction by filmmaker Sarah Friedland on Sunday, October 12th