Nicholas Ray
Gioventù bruciata

A bit of nostalgia for old Hollywood, the one with its star system, luxury hotel rooms trashed by actors, producers, starlets, all caught up in the big vortex of showbiz. We are in the 50s, and James Dean's star shines brighter than ever. Especially in this film by Nicholas Ray, defined as "pure cinema" by its many admirers, including a young Brian De Palma. "Rebel Without A Cause," the original title of "Gioventù bruciata", opened in '55 the trend of beautiful and damned in cinema, which has enjoyed and still enjoys, even if less frequently, great attention and success in theaters. The genre of the "cool troubled rebel" really delivers, no doubt about it. This film has been studied and reviewed by every filmmaker or aspiring one as it is an example of perfection in storytelling and actors' performance. Starting from the initial scenes: from the anthology, the shy teenager James Dean who answers begrudgingly and monosyllabically to the commissioner. What happened last night? The young man does not remember. Drunk and lost, Dean stands at the center of the frame, the camera moves around him using a wide-angle technique, amplifying the sense of anguish emanating from it all. That alone is enough to catapult the viewer into the film's atmosphere. Jim, an introverted teenager, son of a bourgeois couple, falls in love with a sweet and rebellious Natalie Wood, his schoolmate in a small town where the young man struggles to fit in. His new companions, neighborhood bullies without rhyme or reason, target him and give him no respite. The key to understanding the psychological dimension in which our protagonist operates and the state of spiritual degradation that grips his persecutors is the word "Chicken," used to point out Jim. Chicken because he is seen as a weakling, who does not join in the childish games of others, in their bravado, in deadly car races. Except for one, tragic, destined to change everyone's lives. A bitter portrait and, despite the Hollywood veneer, raw and pained depiction of youth devastated, indeed, burned, in those years. Cinema in its quintessence, sprinkled with textbook scenes. The first approaches between Dean and Wood, with her sitting on the hood of his car, while the bold ones from the group puncture his tires. The tension is sky-high. The three friends, including the unfortunate Sal Mineo, who take refuge in the dilapidated villa. The overall setting is both gothic and baroque, foreshadowing a thriller-like ending. A legendary film. Period.