Directors MORE DIRECTORS CHECKLIST SERIES - Volume #257 - THE FILMS OF MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI (1 Viewer)

[Bill McA]

Rate 'em, Rank 'em, Review 'em, whatever

Volume #257 - Michelangelo Antonioni

Eros (2004) (segment "Il filo pericoloso delle cose")
Michelangelo Eye to Eye (2004)
Il Filo pericoloso delle cose (2001)
Beyond the Clouds (1995)
Noto, Mandorli, Vulcano, Stromboli, Carnevale (1993)
12 registi per 12 città (1989) (segment "Roma")
Kumbha Mela (1989)
Identification of a Woman (1982)
The Mystery of Oberwald (1981)
The Passenger (1975)
Chung Kuo China (1972)
Zabriskie Point (1970)
Blowup (1966)
The Three Faces (1965) (segment "Il provino")
Red Desert (1964)
L'Eclisse (1962)
La Notte (1961)
L'Avventura (1960)
Il Grido (1957)
Le Amiche (1955)
Love in the City (1953) (segment "Tentato suicido")
I Vinti (1953)
The Lady Without Camelias (1953)
Story of a Love Affair (1950)
La Funivia del faloria (1950)
Uomini in piú (1950)
The Villa of Monsters (1950)
Loving Lie (1949)
Bomarzo (1949)
Ragazze in bianco (1949)
Sette canne, un vestito (1949)
Superstition (1949)
N. U. (1948)
Oltre l'oblio (1948)
Roma-Montevideo (1948)
Gente del Po (1943)

 

[Bill McA]

Rated from (Own the Blu)



Seen 17
Own 11

 

[SteveGon]

Eros **
Beyond the Clouds ***
Blowup ***
The Passenger ***
L'Eclisse ***
L'Avventura ***
I Vinti ***1/2

 

[Elizabeth S]

Have only seen "Blowup". Have "L'Eclisse" and "L'Avventura" in the to-watch pile.

 

[george kaplan]

Seen: 2
Like: 0
Own: 0

Rank order (not possible):

L'Avventura (1960)
Blowup (1966)


The master of the "incomplete, fucked up, too lazy to figure out" ending. I've seen a lot of movies since I saw Blowup, and it's still got the worst ending of any film I've ever seen. The only film that even comes close to having as bad an ending is L'Avventura.

There is no way for me to rank order these. Blowup is a better movie 95% of the way through, but that makes the disgusting ending that much more tragic. If he'd actually finished the film properly Blowup would be much better, but as it is, they're both bad.

And yes, I've heard the theory that Blowup isn't a mystery, it's a film about loneliness and alienation, etc., etc. Well, Vertigo was a film about that kind of stuff, and yet Hitchcock still managed to end the film properly, in a masterly way without having to resort to mimes playing tennis, exploding clowns, dancing dwarfs or any other garbage to hide the fact that he simply wasn't smart enough or was too lazy to solve the frickin' mystery that he wasted an hour and forty-five minutes telling.

Truly pathetic filmmaking at it's worst.

 

[Brook K]

1. L'Eclisse - A-
2. Il Grido - A-
3. The Red Desert - B+
4. The Passenger - B+
5. La Notte - B+
6. Blow Up - B
7. L'Avventura - C (need to see this again)
8. Eros - C

Own: 0

 

[Jim_K]

Ratings out of :star: :star: :star: :star:


[SIZE= 14px]MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI (1912 - 2007)[/SIZE]


Eros (2004) (segment "Il filo pericoloso delle cose")
Michelangelo Eye to Eye (2004)
Il Filo pericoloso delle cose (2001)
Beyond the Clouds (1995)
Noto, Mandorli, Vulcano, Stromboli, Carnevale (1993)
12 registi per 12 città (1989) (segment "Roma")
Kumbha Mela (1989)
Identification of a Woman (1982)
The Mystery of Oberwald (1981)
The Passenger (1975) :star: :star: :star:
China (1972)
Zabriskie Point (1970) :star: :star: :star:
Blowup (1966) :star: :star: :star:
The Three Faces (1965) (segment "Il provino")
The Red Desert (1964) :star: :star: :star:
L'Eclisse (1962) :star: :star: :star:
La Notte (1961) :star: :star: :star:
L'Avventura (1960) :star: :star: :star:
Il Grido (1957)
Le Amiche (1955)
Love in the City (1953) (segment "Tentato suicido")
I Vinti (1953)
The Lady Without Camelias (1953)
Story of a Love Affair (1950)
La Funivia del faloria (1950)
Uomini in piú (1950)
The Villa of Monsters (1950)
Loving Lie (1949)
Bomarzo (1949)
Ragazze in bianco (1949)
Sette canne, un vestito (1949)
Superstition (1949)
Nettezza urbana (1948)
Oltre l'oblio (1948)
Roma-Montevideo (1948)
Gente del Po (1943)

 

[Mario Gauci]

In order of merit:


1.L'Avventura (1960) ***1/2
2.Blowup (1966) ***1/2
3.L'Eclisse (1962) ***1/2
4.The Passenger (1975) ***
5.La Notte (1961) ***
6.Il Deserto Rosso (1964) ***
7.Il Grido (1957) ***
8.Cronaca Di Un Amore (1950) ***
9.La Signora Senza Camelie (1953) ***
10.Le Amiche (1955) ***
11.I Vinti (1953) ***
12.Lo Sguardo Di Michelangelo (2004) {short} ***
13.Zabriskie Point (1970) **1/2
14.Identificazione Di Una Donna (1982) **1/2
15.Beyond the Clouds (1995) **1/2
16.Eros (2004) (segment "Il filo pericoloso delle cose") **1/2
17.Chung Kuo China (1972) **1/2


I have I VINTI (1953) on VHS and had STORY OF A LOVE AFFAIR (1950), but eventually erased it in the wake of its announcement on DVD - which I've yet to purchase now that it's been released:frowning:! I also need to buy Criterion's edition of L'ECLISSE and Warners' BLOWUP. Unfortunately, along the years, I've missed out on some of his lesser films on Italian TV:frowning:.

Antonioni is one of the most important film-makers to emerge from Italy - his work is frequently difficult but it's always thought-provoking and, ultimately, rewarding. In the past, I had written Antonioni a letter telling him how much I admired his films but, then, last year I had the enormous pleasure of seeing the great man in person at the Venice Film Festival; he was seated just a few steps away from me and my brother during a screening of EROS...but we didn't have the courage (or the time, as he was rushed out of the auditorium as soon as the film ended) to go up to him, knowing his advanced age and the poor physical condition he's in:frowning:.

 

[Arman]

.

 

[Brook K]

Updated:
The Passenger - B+

If I had the time, I'd see it again while it's still in the theater.

 

[Bill McA]

UPDATED:

Chung Kuo China (1972) :star: :star: :star: :star:

Seen 12
Own 8

 

[Bill McA]

UPDATED:

The Mystery of Oberwald (1981) :star: :star:

Seen 13
Own 8

 

[Bill McA]

UPDATED:

Identification of a Woman (1982) :star: :star: :star: :star:

Seen 14
Own 8

 

[Martin Teller]

The Passenger (1975) - 9/10
Zabriskie Point (1970) - 7/10
Blowup (1966) - 8/10
The Red Desert (1964) - 9/10
L'Eclisse (1962) - 8/10
La Notte (1961) - 8/10
L'Avventura (1960) - 9/10

Nettezza urbana (1948) - 7/10
Gente del Po (1943) - 7/10


Is it the films that are lazy and incomplete... or the viewer?

 

[Justin_S]

Ranks and ratings on a scale of * to *****:

1: Blowup (1966) *****

Seen 1
Own 1

Looking forward to catching up with more of his films.

 

[SteveGon]

L'Eclisse *** out of ****

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

I've only seen two of his films (not counting falling asleep during The Passenger, which I still plan to see), and hated both of them. I've still only seen them once, but in the intervening years, I've grown to respect them, especially since I see their influence on many of my favorite films. In hindsight:

Seen: 2
Own: 0

L'avventura - *** out of ****
Blow-Up - *** out of ****

Another thing that helped my appreciation of Antonioni was seeing Brian DePalma's atrocious Blow Out, which made me realize that coherant plot would not have improved Blow-Up, and removing the ambiguity would have made it a soulless thriller.

 

[SteveGon]

I Vinti (The Vanquished) ***1/2 out of ****

 

[Brook K]

Updated:

Blow Up - B

 

[Bill McA]

UPDATED:

Story of a Love Affair (1950) :star: :star: :star:

Seen 15
Own 8