The Station (1952)
A day in the life of a train station.
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Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
An early documentary film in the style of Chantal Akerman's `D'Est' or Vertov's cinema verite, including the sounds and whistles of trains, and a view from on high looking down at passengers waiting for a train, capturing individuals who seem to be caught out of time, similar to Zurlini's later films such as `The Desert of the Tartars,' revealing a complacency, an involuntarily acceptance of an established, prevailing order, a kind of wordless, avant-garde cinema.Also on the same program, Zurlini's 1952 `The Boxers,' featuring the gorgeous cinematography of Tino Santoni, mixing some unusual jazz music with the physicality of boxing, a wonderful feature. `The Market of Faces' also in 1952 reveals several film extras who are waiting to be hired, each with a different perspective. `Soldiers in the City' in 1953 was my favorite, as it had the best written script, revealing an inner life of young men away from home who are lonely, childish men subject to discovery by younger kids looking for a game of soccer, but who eventually break young girl's hearts, as they are also caught out of place, out of time. `Penny Serenade' in 1954 was the weakest feature, in my opinion, as the script was the most obvious and predictable, a study or organ grinder players from Napoli, who are themselves poor, but their families back home are desperate for money. Finally, `La Stazione' in 1955 was perhaps the most advanced stylistically.