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Black Journal

1977 · 112 min

A grotesque, deadpan descent into a mother's madness, mixing domestic horror with absurd comedy in a claustrophobic period setting.

Directed by
Mauro Bolognini
Genres
Drama, Thriller, Horror
Starring
Shelley Winters, Max von Sydow, Renato Pozzetto
Overview
A mother so insanely overprotective of her grown son decides to make a deal with death by offering alternate victims plucked from among her fellow tenants in a 1938 Italian apartment building.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Directed by
Mauro Bolognini
Genres
Drama, Thriller, Horror
Starring
Shelley Winters, Max von Sydow, Renato Pozzetto
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • darkstrength 3 of 3
  • absurdstrength 2 of 3
  • satiricalstrength 2 of 3
  • campystrength 2 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • madness
  • parenthood
  • obsession
  • death
  • family
Places
  • big city
  • home
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • true story
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence mild
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action2
Horror5
Humour6
Realism6
Romance2
Tension5
Darkness8
Complexity6
Emotional weight6

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
drama, thriller, horror, comedy
Directed by
Mauro Bolognini
Written by
Nicola Badalucco
Starring
Shelley Winters, Max von Sydow, Renato Pozzetto, Alberto Lionello, Laura Antonelli, Mario Scaccia, Franco Branciaroli, Milena Vukotić
Music
Enzo Jannacci
Cinematography
Armando Nannuzzi
Runtime
112 min
Country
Italy
Languages
Italian

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