N.U. (short for Nettezza urbana, Italian urban cleansing service)[1][2] is a 1948 Italian documentary short film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. The film examines a weekday from morning until evening of Italian road sweepers, captured at work on the streets of post-World War II Rome.
| N.U. | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Michelangelo Antonioni |
| Produced by | Vieri Bigazzi (production manager) |
| Cinematography | Giovanni Ventimiglia |
| Music by | Giovanni Fusco |
Production companies | I.C.E.T., Milan |
| Distributed by | Lux Film |
Release date |
|
Running time | 11 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
Style
editIn a 1961 discussion with film students, Antonioni explained that he wanted to achieve a contrast to the then dominating neorealist documentary style with his film by use of a "poetically free montage".[3]
Awards
edit- 1948 Nastro d'Argento for Best Documentary[4]
Legacy
editN.U. has been screened as part of retrospectives on Antonioni at various festivals and institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art,[5] the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive,[6] and the Cinémathèque Française.[7] It has been released on home media as part of The Criterion Collection's release of Antonioni's Red Desert.[8]
References
edit- ^ "Nettezza urbana". Collins Dictionary. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- ^ "Nettezza urbana". Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- ^ Kotulla, Theodor, ed. (1964). "Die Krankheit der Gefühle. Ein Gespräch mit Studenten des Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rom 1961". Der Film. Manifeste, Gespräche, Dokumente. Vol. 2. Munich: Piper.
- ^ Marrone, Gaetana, ed. (2007). Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies. Vol. 1. Routledge. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-57958-390-3. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- ^ "Reinventing Neorealism: Antonioni's Documentaries of the 1940s and '50s". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
- ^ "Short Films by Michelangelo Antonioni". BAMPFA. 22 December 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
- ^ "N.U. (Nettezza urbana)". Cinémathèque Française (in French). Retrieved 10 September 2023.
- ^ "Red Desert". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
External links
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