What is postwar modernism in cinema?

Answer 1

Postwar Modernism is a style or movement of experimental filmmaking that appeared in Europe after WWII and can be characterized by "slice-of-life" (true to life) narratives in films. In some ways, the movement had links to Soviet films, as evident in films by Italian Neorealist filmmakers and their use of non-actors in central roles, as well as German Expressionistic styles as portrayed through the styles of some Scandinavian directors. But for the most part, the movement carried its own distinct style, differing from the popular "Hollywood formula" films (comedies, musicals, etc) of the era. Postwar Modernism can be characterized by three stylistic features: objective realism, subjective reality, and authorial commentary.

Objective realism is best evidenced in Italian Neorealist filmmakers, who tried to capture some of the horrors of fascism, war and occupation. Because cinema is a popular medium for World War Propaganda, and because of the tight control that warring nations hold over their own film industries, portraying social conditions was generally not allowed in war-era filmmaking. Avoiding tight Hollywood plots, filmmakers of this era let the camera linger on at the end of scenes after the action concluded, or would simply refuse to eliminate action that lacks creative elements or in which "nothing" is happening. Postwar Modernist films also tended to favor the open-ended narratives, where the central plot does not get resolved (the opposite of most Hollywood films). These filmmakers saw that few things can be neatly tied up in real life, and used this as the ground for creative films in such a manner. Stylistically, Postwar Modernism has distinct technical characteristics as well. The long take, which is an abnormally lengthy shot, is one and was justified by the filmmakers as representing events in continuous "real time" - without manipulation through editing (a counterpart to Soviet Montage filmmakers). In a similar sense, acting styles in Post Modernist films were now being characterized by halting delivery, fragmentary and elliptical speeches, and a refusal to meet other players' eyes - all of which were the antithesis to the smoothly acted performances of American postwar cinema. The use of sound, and the use of non-sound was an important aspect of this type of cinema as well. In France, for example, silence would often call attention to small noises. Next, modernist filmmakers sought to represent subjective reality, the psychology behind an individual's actions. In the US, the most common representation of this is the portrayal of a character's thoughts through flashbacks, and later through dreams, hallucinations and the like. German Expressionism is a great example of the stylized use of subjective reality. Lastly, European films of the postwar era had a feature that may be called authorial commentary - the sense that an intelligence outside the film's world is pointing out something out about the events we see. For example, in the 1957 film Il Grido Michelangelo Antoinoni evokes the bleakness of the character's relationship by framing them against a barren landscape with their backs to the camera. Much of the postwar modernist films use techniques that allow the viewer to gather multiple meanings to the onscreen action. As would be true to reality, every character's emotions and thoughts differ and can be expressed in multiple ways.

Answer 2

It's a type of style used in film making after WWII. It is characterized by using true to life experiences and non actors. The films stayed on certain scenes which was different to Hollywood type films. films were shot in a way that the viewer could get several meanings from them.