Directed by Marco Bellocchio • 1965 • Italy
Starring Lou Castel, Paola Pitagora, Marino Masé
Tormented by twisted desires, a young man takes drastic measures to rid his grotesquely dysfunctional family of its various afflictions, in this astonishing 1965 debut from Marco Bellocchio. With its coolly assured style, shocking perversity, and savage gallows humor, FISTS IN THE POCKET (I PUGNI IN TASCA) was a gleaming ice pick in the eye of bourgeois family values and Catholic morality, a truly unique work that continues to rank as one of the great achievements of Italian cinema.
In this video interview, shot in Rome in 2005, acclaimed filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci (a contemporary of Marco Bellocchio) discusses his reaction to FISTS IN THE POCKET and explains the film’s importance to Italian cinema.
This documentary, made in 2005, features interviews with FISTS IN THE POCKET director Marco Bellocchio, actors Lou Castel and Paola Pitagora, editor Silvano Agosti, and critic Tullio Kezich.
