Michelangelo Antonioni

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dadaistnun · #101 Post by **dadaistnun** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 3:14 pm

davebert · #102 Post by **davebert** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:26 pm

I just realized that I graduated from film school on the day Antonioni and Bergman died. Think there's some kind of cosmic transference of powers that might just happen?

MichaelB · #103 Post by **MichaelB** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 6:05 pm

davebert wrote:I just realized that I graduated from film school on the day Antonioni and Bergman died. Think there's some kind of cosmic transference of powers that might just happen?

In a word, no.

But look on the bright side: if there had been a cosmic transference of powers, you'd spend your entire career being expected to produce epoch-shattering masterpieces, suffering disproportionate critical excoriation when you don't.

(This was Bergman's great advantage in particular - he was able to develop in relative obscurity for a full decade before Smiles of a Summer Night really turned the international spotlight on him in a big way)

davebert · #104 Post by **davebert** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 6:11 pm

Yeah, I suppose being the next DJ Caruso has its advantages...

Anonymous · #105 Post by **Anonymous** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:22 pm

I am still beyond words. Michelangelo Antonioni was one of the artists who meant the most to me. Many people admire the work of Antonioni from a distance, but I love his films, love them! Whenever I glimpse a scene from L'Avventura or L'Eclisse I feel transported to another place, a heightened sense of consciousness. With Antonioni alive, I felt that we were still breathing the same air as a man who grasped the complexities of life, an artist who tried to express feelings with feelings, on the screen, and not articulate them with words. Antonioni always understood instinctively what cinema at its core is and when I watch the movements of Monica Vitti within the frame, the way objects are placed and relate to each other within consecutive shots and the way Antonioni edits those sequences into a synonymous whole, I feel secure in the hands of a true master of the highest order. And still there remains something enigmatic about every Antonioni film, something everlasting that we will never quite grasp. It's the same enigma that defines life: why do certain moments, glances, physical or emotional feelings evoke an emotion in ourselves? The answer isn't necessary, but the artistic expression of them is at the heart of Antonioni's immortal work.

I feel unable to say farewell to Michelangelo. But one has to overcome the terrible sense of loss, and cherish the art he has left us.

Sortini · #106 Post by **Sortini** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 2:17 pm

Regarding the Chinese communist attack on Chung Kuo - Cina in '72, I believe it is now thought to have been a disguised attack on Chou En-lai by the Gang of Four, (Madame Mao, etc). Chou En-lai wanted to open up China after the Cultural Revolution and had invited Antonioni over to make this documentary.

Barmy · #107 Post by **Barmy** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:30 pm

Funeral Report

tavernier · #108 Post by **tavernier** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:33 pm

Barmy wrote:Funeral Report

No Nicholson?

leo goldsmith · #109 Post by **leo goldsmith** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:10 pm

Barmy wrote:Funeral Report

"German film-maker Wim Wenders said he had gone "beyond the clouds", referring to the 1995 film Al di la Delle Nuvole which he co-directed with the Italian director."

[puke]

#110 Post by **domino harvey** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:14 pm

I kno rite, if there's one thing that doesn't belong in a brief eulogy, it's sincerity of emotion.

leo goldsmith · #111 Post by **leo goldsmith** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:20 pm

... or self-congratulation for, of all films, Beyond the Clouds.

Barmy · #112 Post by **Barmy** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:27 pm

Where was Vitti???

#113 Post by **domino harvey** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:34 pm

leo goldsmith wrote:... or self-congratulation for, of all films, Beyond the Clouds.

I'm surprised you didn't quote what he said next. "Today, while we are gathered here to mourn the end of life, we must also not forget The End of Violence, VHS copies of which I will be selling out of my trunk after the reception."

#114 Post by **Jeff** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:10 am

David Ehrenstein wrote:The last time this sort of thing happened was back in the late 70's when Chaplin, Hawks and Jacques Tourneur died the same week.

Jimmy Stewart died the day after Robert Mitchum in 1997.

Tommaso · #115 Post by **Tommaso** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:38 am

I'm just back from my holidays to Italy, only to find out about the deaths of Antonioni and Bergman. Well, now I understand why RAI Uno showed "La signora senza camelie" and "I vinti" on the same day (just accidentily watched bits of them zapping through the hotel's TV set). And I thought it was just a normal retrospective....
I'm very very sad.

#116 Post by **kinjitsu** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:50 am

Are you saying that you didn't notice anything on the newsstands? Incredibile!

Tommaso · #117 Post by **Tommaso** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:24 pm

Precisely. I wanted to get away from all the rustle and bustle if only for two weeks. Plus I can only understand very little Italian, so I guess that's why I didn't even think of looking at the newsstand or watching news on TV. Still I couldn't resist visiting a dvd shop, and managed to get the dvd (with english subs!) of the 1953 anthology film "L'amore in cittÃƒÂ ", a project initiated by Zavattini, and which features an episode by Antonioni. I have never seen that film, but will watch the disc as soon as I can, in a melancholic mood for sure.

Barmy · #118 Post by **Barmy** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:09 pm

Oldest Living Directors

1908
Manoel de Oliveira, 11 December, The Singularities of Rapariga Loira (2008)

1909
Richard L. Bare, 12 August, "Green Acres" (43 episodes, 1965-1971)

1911
Jules Dassin, December 18, Circle of Two (1980)

colinr0380 · #119 Post by **colinr0380** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 9:16 am

John Foxx remembers Antonioni

MichaelB · #120 Post by **MichaelB** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:14 am

Barmy wrote:Oldest Living Directors

1908
Manoel de Oliveira, 11 December, The Singularities of Rapariga Loira (2008)

1909
Richard L. Bare, 12 August, "Green Acres" (43 episodes, 1965-1971)

1911
Jules Dassin, December 18, Circle of Two (1980)

Ronald Neame should come third - he was born on 23 April 1911. Hardly a major auteur, but more significant than Richard L. Bare.

Barmy · #121 Post by **Barmy** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:20 am

Don't be dissing on Dick Bare!

MichaelB · #122 Post by **MichaelB** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:24 am

Barmy wrote:Don't be dissing on Dick Bare!

He does have a magnificent name, I'll give you that.

And the 100% split-screen Wicked, Wicked deserves props for being one of those films that I'm glad someone had the balls to actually attempt, even if it ultimately proved what a stupid idea it was.

colinr0380 · #123 Post by **colinr0380** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:32 am

MichaelB wrote:And the 100% split-screen Wicked, Wicked deserves props for being one of those films that I'm glad someone had the balls to actually attempt, even if it ultimately proved what a stupid idea it was.

After watching the trailer on the first 42nd Street Forever volume I'm still unsure exactly how it would work - is it one big image projected over two screens or two screens showing different images? All the trailer told me was that it was made in 'Duovision'!

And if we are talking about rude sounding names, nothing beats Dick Bush! (except maybe for Willie Colon!)

MichaelB · #124 Post by **MichaelB** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:35 am

colinr0380 wrote:After watching the trailer on the first 42nd Street Forever volume I'm still unsure exactly how it would work - is it one big image projected over two screens or two screens showing different images? All the trailer told me was that it was made in 'Duovision'!

Straightforward split-screen, much like a Brian De Palma set-piece, but the gimmick here is that it runs throughout the entire feature.

And if we are talking about rude sounding names, nothing beats Dick Bush! (except maybe the name of one of the people who did the music for William Lustig's Vigilante - Willie Colon!)

John Waters once imagined a female counterpart to Peter O'Toole called Muffy O'Clit...

John Cope · #125 Post by **John Cope** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:49 pm

MichaelB wrote:And the 100% split-screen Wicked, Wicked deserves props for being one of those films that I'm glad someone had the balls to actually attempt, even if it ultimately proved what a stupid idea it was.

Michael, have you seen Hans Canosa's Conversations with Other Women? It too employs a split screen for the entire feature but I think it succeeds marvelously. It isn't perfect, of course, but Canosa really understands what to emphasize and why, employing his technique for often subtle ends. The fact that it's a more or less straight drama probably helps ground it and prevent it all from seeming too much the gimmick. The split is used imaginatively throughout, freeing up dramatic possibility by simple shifts of framing or allowing internal glimpses of the characters' minds. And overall it's a quite poignant, very adult picture.

And now we're far away from talking about Antonioni.