Il deserto rosso (Red Desert) (1964)

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Writers:  Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra
Cast:       Monica Vitti, Richard Harris, Carlo Chionetti
Language: Italian

The film is about a woman trying to survive in the modern industrial world of cultural neurosis and existential doubt. It is another one of those films which deal with alienation, the overarching thematic link that connects all Antonioni films.

Giuliana (Vitti) is married to Ugo (Chionetti) with a kid in an industrial town Ravenna. According to her husband, she is suffering from PTSD after a car accident. Ugo's boss Corrado (Richard Harris) become fascinated with her as he sees things that her husband has not realized yet going on in her life. We later on learn that her accident was a suicide attempt. Unlike other Antonioni films, I didn't find the film that interesting despite the exquisite visuals and inventive soundtrack involving industrial sounds and ship horns. This is Antonioni's first film in color and it is a seamless transition for him. The thermal power plant is not used to paint a bleak atmosphere but an attractive one despite the pollution and the wastes that it leaves behind. The level of enjoyment that you get out of the film will depend on how convinced you are about Vitti's portrayal of her role. I didn't find the unsubtle way of her acting in it to be too convincing. 

It is the fourth and last one of Antonioni's collaborations with Monica Vitti, the other three being what is now known as his Alienation trilogy-L'Avventura, La Notte, L'Eclisse. To be, fair all of his films can be described as one which deals with alienation, un-satisfaction and general unhappiness. I don't know how Richard Harris, Dumbledore from the initial Harry Potter films, ended up in this but he was fired before the completion of the film for punching Antonioni in face. He was not satisfied with Antonioni's response of:'You don't ask me why, you're an actor. You just do it', when asked why he needs to walk diagonally in one of the scene. Tough shit.

Rating: 3/5

Dear Antonioni (1997)

Director: Gianni Massironi
Features: Michelangelo Antonioni, Chrsitine Boisson, Alain Cunny, David Hemmings, Monica Vitti

It is a TV documentary which was made at around the time of Antonioni's comeback with 'Beyond the Clouds' after taking a long hiatus post a stroke which left him partly paralyzed and unable to speak in 1985. It takes a look at his entire filmography  up to that point with some of the artists he worked with reading extract's from a letter that was sent to Antonioni by some philosopher I think. It also has archival footage of various interviews given by Antonioni.

Antonioni is not a director who gets associated with the neo-realist movement in Italian cinema. He had made a short documentary in 1943 called Gente del Po (People of the Po valley), which was filmed in 1943 when Italy was still under fascism and got released in 1947. It is cited as the start of neo-realist movement even though Antonioni didn't direct any feature films in that particular genre. I haven't seen any of his films made before 1960 even though 'Cronaca di un amore ' and 'Il Grido ' have been on my watch-list for sometime.

Antonioni is most famous for the films he made in 1960s starting with the thematic Trilogy of L'Avventura, La Notte and L'Eclisse all of which I have seen. All of them follows characters who belongs to the bourgeoisie class into which Antonioni was also born into. Loneliness, unhappiness, purposelessness, urban alienation are the themes that are common in all the films of Antonioni that I have seen. One might presume that if he is handling the same things in all his films it might feel repetitive and boring. That is not the case since the way he presents them are very different and the themes he handle are universal in nature but presented always in a subtle way. In the documentary his film making is compared with that of Hitchcock who always keep the audience guessing by hiding things for a significant duration his films but everything gets tied off nicely by the time closing credits roll. Antonioni does the opposite by hiding nothing but everything remains open-ended as we have to gleam meanings from the images that he conjures up and it is no surprise that Antonioni was also a very good painter. Hitchcock films will give you great thrills when you watch it but Antonioni ones will stay with you even after you leave from the cinemas. Both of these styles have their own merits but as you grow up (age wise as well as cinematic knowledge wise), it is the Antonioni type of films that interests you more. It was interesting to see Hitchcock being describes as a realist filmmaker in the sense that everything is made clear to the audience whereas Antonioni is a modern filmmaker characterized by the open-endedness and ambiguities.

The alienation trilogy was followed up with Red Desert which was his first film in colour and I have not seen it yet. Antonioni signed up with the producer Carlo Ponti to direct three films in English to be released by MGM. It resulted in Blow Up, Zabriskie Point and The Passenger. Jack Nicholson starring 'The Passenger' in which he plays a TV reporter who is running away from his past is my favorite Antonioni film. I found all the six films I have seen of him so far to be great and he is certainly up there very high in my favorite directors list if I were to make one.

The documentary is a great watch for those who are big fans of Michelangelo Antonioni. Might be useless if you are not familiar with his work

Rating: 3.5/5

The Passenger (1975)

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Writers:  Mark Peploe, Peter Wollen, Michelangelo Antonioni
Cast:      Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider, Jenny Runacre

A journalist in Africa fakes his own death by swapping identities with a dead arms dealer and proceeds to keep his appointments in various cities in Europe. 

It is another masterpiece from Antonioni dealing with alienation which is a recurring theme in his films. It is the third and final English film he to fulfill his contract with the producer Carlo Ponti. Cinematography is excellent.There is a particular scene in which the girl he encounters in Spain asks him what he is running away from, he asks her to sit with her back against the driving seat, and as they drive through the road laden with trees on either side, the shot of a smiling Maria Schneider is exquisite. The scene is to signify that David Locke, the journalist is running away from his past. He looked unhappy and demotivated as he was slogging away in Africa covering a guerrilla revolution. It is significant that the character is named after the English philosopher John Locke, whose theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern concepts of identity and the self. He was the first to define self as the continuity of consciousness. At birth the mind is a blank state and knowledge is instead determined only through experiences. The character is trying to start again with a clean slate by assuming the identity of a person about whom he doesn't know much. By keeping his appointments he is in the process of putting himself in danger to learn the unknown which is again what he was doing in his career as a journalist. In that sense he cannot run away from his past and falls back to doing what he has always done. 

The ending scene at hotel where Locke is assassinated in a Spanish hotel at twilight is a seven minutes single shot. The film was not universally well received at the time of its release with many critics including Roger Ebert considering it to be pretentious. It is my favorite Antonioni film with an understated performance  by his standards from Jack Nicholson.

Rating: 5/5

Zabriskie Point (1970)

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Writers:  Michelangelo Antonioni, Fred Gardner, Sam Shepard, Tonino Guerra, Clare Peploe
Cast:       Mark Frechette, Daria Halprin, Paul Fix

The film is set in late 60s' America's counterculture movement and is the second in Antonioni's group of films that were part of his three English films contract with Carlo Ponti. It begins with documentary style footage of a revolutionary student gathering followed by scenes of a student protest in which a cop is killed. The protagonist Mark  is suspected for the shooting and even as he casually strolls round Los Angeles, he ends up stealing a private plane from an airport and makes his way to the desert. In the desert he meets Daria, an anthropology student, who is helping a property developer build a housing project in the desert where you can get away from the crowded city life and enjoy a rugged but comfortable lifestyle. They together gets on her car and drives to the Zabriskie Point, Death Valley. There they fool around talking and ultimately have sex in the sand. They then go back to the plane, repaint it Hippy psychedelic style and Mark decides to take it back to the city. He is shot dead when he lands and Daria gets to her Boss's lavish desert home where he is in discussion about the property development. In her grief she decides to turn back even as she imagines the home to be blown up from various angles. The scene is similar to the earlier sex scene in the sand where various other imaginary people are shown to be having fun in the sand.

The film is an indictment of American way of life and development with no sense of humor. Mark represents the carefree youth of the counterculture movement while Daria is someone who got over it by being pragmatic and at the same time being conflicted about it. The film was a huge commercial and critical failure but is now considered as a cult favorite. I just wish it was a bit more subtle in its treatment. 

Rating: 3.5/5

La Notte (1961)

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Writers:  Michelangelo Antonioni, Ennio Flainano, Tonino Guerra
Cast:       Marcelo Mastroianni, Jeanne Moreau, Monica Vitti

A day in the life of an openly unfaithful married couple whose relationship is obviously deteriorating.

Mastroianni plays the role of Giovanni, a successful writer with a newly released book, married to a rich lady played by Jeanne Moreau (Lidia). Lidia is insecure about her own intellectual capacity when compared with Giovanni's and doesn't love him anymore. She is bored with her bourgeoisie way of life and doesn't enjoy herself with the company of high society. We see them going to a party hosted by a rich man and the second half of film consists entirely of that. Lidia eggs Giovanni onto Valentina played by Monica Vitti. Lidia herself finds it impossible to be unfaithful to her husband and everything is very complicated. We as audience are to figure out what is going on in their minds and it is very challenging but a rewarding experience.

It is interesting to compare Antonioni's work with that of Michael Haneke's. Urban alienation is a theme that is commonly handled by both of these directors. Haneke usually take a stand offish approach to his characters and jolt the audience with the extraordinary actions taken by them. Antonioni takes the audience into his characters' moods whom largely remains alienated. La Notte is the second film in what is dubbed as Michelangelo Antonioni's 'Alienation Trilogy. The other two being L'Avventura and L'Eclisse. 

Rating: 4.5/5
   

L'Avventura (1960)

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Writers:  Michelangelo Antonioni, Elio Bartolini, Tonino Guerra
Cast:       Monica Vitti, Gabriele Ferzetti, Lea Massari
Language:Italian

Anna, who is conflicted about the relationship she has with her lover Sandro, disappears during a boating trip. Her lover and he best friend (Claudia played by Monica Vitti) become attracted to each other as they try to find her.

The story sounds like a cliched one but the way the film is made makes it very good. There are plenty of scenes where nothing really happens in terms of plot but a lot happens underneath the surface. When it was screened first at Cannes, it got booed because of which Antonioni and Monica Viiti fled the theater. On the subsequent screening it was received well and it went on to win the Jury Prize. 

The film is primarily about the guilt that Claudia feels in having a relationship with her best friend's lover. Whether Anna died or just ran away is not made clear in the film and her shadow looms over Claudia throughout the film. What makes the film great are the random sequences that are there throughout the film capturing the moodiness of the characters. In the last sequence of the film, Claudia catches Sandro cheating on her and I thought it was really an unnecessary turn for the film. But it makes up for it by showing the way Claudia reacts finally by consoling Sandro and thereby feeling less weight from her own guilt.

Rating: 5/5

 

Blow-Up (1966)

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Writers:  Michelangelo Antonioni, Julio Cortazar, Edward Bond, Tonino Guerra
Cast:       David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles

It is the swinging sixties and a successful fashion photographer in London finds something interesting to do as he inadvertently photographs a murder happening without realizing it. But does it really interest him as he drifts off again and again due to minor distractions.

The plot is a sideshow and the film is really about how isolated and detached the character is from the world around him. The murder should be something that would shook him up but all other characters in the film end up distracting him from the main event of the film and finally the body also disappears leaving us wondering whether he imagined the entire thing. The final scene with the mime actors, where he watches an imaginary tennis match and finally when the camera focus on his face we hear the sound of tennis balls being hit kind of suggests that it is a case of perception versus reality. He himself vanishes from the field as the credits roll out.

The film was Antonioni's first in English and is considered a landmark film with its explicit nature breaking the production code set by the industry. The film didn't get the  code approval but MGM released it anyways. The film's critical and box office success led the code to be abandoned in favour  of the MPAA film rating system.

Rating: 4/5

L'eclisse (1962)

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni

Writers:  Michelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra, Elio Batolini, Ottiero Ottieri

Cast:      Monica Vitti, Alain Delon, Francisco Rabal

Language: Italian

A young woman meets a vital young man, but their love affair is doomed because of the man's materialistic nature.

It is considered as the last part of the trilogy which was preceded by L'Avventura and La Notte. I haven't seen those. It is a very good 60s film having similar spirit to the Godard films.

Rating: 3.5/5