The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent

Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007)

<< < (2/4) > >>

moremojo:
How serendipitous, and insightful, that you would invoke Antonioni and Brokeback Mountain together, Casey. I was most interested to come across, earlier today, the following post that I made on another thread some time ago:

http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php/topic,309.msg62792.html#msg62792

Front-Ranger:
I remember that post, and it brought back for me the strange sense of ennui that that scene in l'eclisse engendered. I saw most of Antonioni's movies when I was very young and, looking back, I think it actually prepared me for the many missed opportunities and timing glitches that keep people apart in their young adult lives.

I will never forget Blow-up. It was the first adult movie I ever saw, at the college campus in my hometown. David Hemmings in the role of a photographer, with Julie Christie, Twiggy, and one other person whose name I forget. It was all about the conjunction of the virtual world with the real world, wondering which is more real. The movie is certainly even more relevant today. The images in the movie had such a powerful effect on me, because of the way they were framed. I can still see them in my mind's eye. The influence on Lee is very apparent.

moremojo:

--- Quote ---...with Julie Christie, Twiggy, and one other person whose name I forget.
--- End quote ---
Might you be thinking of Verushka (Veruschka von Lehndorff)? Jane Birkin and Gillian Hills also appeared in the film, participating in a suggestive scene with David Hemmings that foreshadows Malcolm McDowell's tryst with Hills and Barbara Scott in the 1971 A Clockwork Orange.

Lee, have you read the Julio Cortazar short story on which Antonioni's film was based? I have it in my collection, but have never got around to it!

Front-Ranger:
How could I possibly forget Veruschka!! I sentence myself to track down that movie and watch it again several times!! Wasn't there a bad remake years later with John Travolta?

I do recall reading the story too a long time ago. I'm starting to relive my teenaged years all over again this summer...it's spooky! But I like it!! Since young people these days are listening to Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Police, etc. maybe they'll start watching all the classic French and Italian movies all over again! Wouldn't that be fantastic!! Let's have a film festival!!

moremojo:

--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on August 04, 2007, 12:29:07 pm ---Wasn't there a bad remake years later with John Travolta?
--- End quote ---
You're thinking of Blow Out (1981), where Travolta acted opposite Nancy Allen (wife to Brian De Palma, the film's director). It makes a travesty of the philosophical subtleties of Antonioni's original, but taken on its own terms, is an entertaining little movie.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page