The Gospel According to St. Matthew(Il Vangelo secondo Matteo)
Dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Italy/France, 1964, Italian, 137mins, DCP
Cast: Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna Pasolini
Hailed as one of the best films ever made about Christ, Pasolini's reinterpreted classic is a powerful vision from the perspective of a non-orthodox believer. Shot without a script, the life of Christ is told with stark simplicity, quoting faithfully from the Gospel throughout. Charged with a visual style owing to Renaissance and Byzantine art, the tableaux yield a restrained depiction of the miracles and the Crucifixion, while its dreamlike montage and close-ups achieve a modernity. Portraying Christ in his divinity, his humanity and even as a radical, Pasolini combines the revolutionary and the reverential that seems like his Catholic-Marxist statement.
Venice Film Festival: Special Jury Prize
20/11 (Sun): Film talk with Matthew Cheng
Hong Kong Arts Centre Louis Koo Cinema (Venue)
M+ Cinema (Venue)
Post-screening talk
