Pasolini renegade filmmaker Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant) explores the final days of another rebellious artist, Pier Paolo Pasolini. Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) gives an incandescent performance as the subversive Italian poet and lm director, chronicling his final hours on November 2, 1975 in Rome. The film follows him as he works on his controversial classic Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, and leads up to his brutal murder on the beach in Ostia on the outskirts of the city. Facing resistance and persecution from the public, politicians, censors and critics, Pasolini seeks comfort from his beloved mother and friends, including actress Laura Betti (Maria de Madeiros, Pulp Fiction) and continues his work on an ambitious new novel and screenplay. Further distractions are provided by the young men of Rome, whom he cruises past in his Alfa Romeo. Shooting in the locations where he lived and worked, Pasolini is a beautiful evocation of the life and death of a profoundly influential artist.
Abel Ferrara and Willem Dafoe in conversation • Theatrical trailer Behind-the-scenes documentary • Booklet essay by lm historian Brad Stevens
