Review: ‘We Weren’t Just Bicycle Thieves’ is a charming chat about Italian neorealism film

For all the ways Italian neorealism brought a new socially conscious, unforgiving directness to cinema in the 1940s, Gianni Bozzacchi’s documentary “We Weren’t Just Bicycle Thieves. Neorealism” is as breezy and affable as film histories get.

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Much of that vibe stems from narrator, co-writer and neorealist director himself Carlo Lizzani. He hosts from a book-lined, poster-bedecked office, spinning stories about the movement’s wartime anti-fascism origins, reminiscing about the artistic contributions of the era’s greats: Roberto Rossellini (“Paisan,” “Rome, Open City”), Luchino Visconti (“La Terra Trema”), Vittorio de Sica (“Shoeshine,” “Bicycle Thieves”) and others. He opens the window to reveal digitally superimposed clips from the films, a charming nod to neorealism’s insistence on reflecting the world outside the studio. (Lizzani, whose career started as an assistant director for Rossellini, passed away two years ago at the age of 91.)

The interviewees Lizzani chats with on-camera are no slouches, either, including Umberto Eco, the Taviani brothers, Bernardo Bertolucci and cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno. It’s like a cozy, informational visit with a beloved professor who assumes you come with a cineaste’s built-in appreciation, but enjoys connecting the dots for you in a way that makes the movement’s creative signposts — nonprofessional actors, street vitality, stories about poverty and desperation — feel freshly indelible.

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“We Weren’t Just Bicycle Thieves. Neorealism”

MPAA rating: None

Running time: 1 hour, 21 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Music Hall 3, Beverly Hills