1966
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
We have reached what is probably the most pretentious film on The List. Now that I have a better understanding of Antonioni's work, I should probably appreciate this movie more than when I first saw it a couple years ago. Unfortunately, I still think it is a piece of pompous garbage.
A womanizing photographer believes that he accidentally took photos of a murder. It seems like a really good premise and I would have loved to see how someone like Hitchcock might of handled it. But instead of a really interesting mystery, we get mimes playing tennis. If that doesn't warrant an eye roll, I don't know what does.
Now, there are certain films on this list that aren't meant to be entertaining (which is something that has always been hard for me to get used to). However, I failed to find any truths in this movie in the midst of my boredom.
Just a dull film masquerading as something deep. I know I am going to get some heat for this review. I await my sentence.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
First British film to show full frontal female nudity.
Performance by the Yardbirds. Love those guys.
I'm not going to overly argue with you on this. It had it's moments.. but - as you say.. mimed tennis? I'm afraid it blew it with stuff like that.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely.. What would Alfred made of this?
Definitely. I just could not stop rolling my eyes with this one.
DeleteI just watched this movie. I enjoyed parts of it. I actually liked the mime tennis. However, this movie is just too long for what it is. The plot or characters are not interesting enough for an almost two hour film. Sure the cinematography is great, but ultimately I wanted this movie to end around the ninety minute mark. I agree with your rating, for sure.
DeleteWow, you didn't find the tennis pretentious? It annoyed me so much!
DeleteI am going to, kindly, disagree with you.
ReplyDeleteHad I not been watching all these Antonioni movies already, I may have agreed with you, but they offer the key for watching this one.
This is about the emptiness of a life without obligations. Here the main character lives a spontaneous life doing and saying whatever he pleases and can pursue his every whim. However he realizes in the end that this is all an illusion. Junk and emptiness with which he fills up his life rather than committing himself personally to other people. That is the point of the mimes and as much as I hate mimes I found that scene the perfect ending. Thomas simply disappears.
I'm with Mr T. on this one
DeleteI took the whole murder thing to be that by capturing the secret couple on camera, he had condemned the man. Literally shooting him in the photography and pistol sense. When the photos had been taken from his studio, the man was safe and so the body disappeared.
That is a very interesting interpretation that I had not thought of at all, but it makes perfect sense.
DeleteIt seemed "obvious" to me. But right after watching it I rewatched the whole thing with commentary from some film academic and he made no mention of it throughout, despite explaining loads of other meanings and interpretations. So I might be on my own with this one.
DeleteSee also my theory that Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men represents the slow, relentless march of time that no one can outrun nor outsmart.
I feel like I would have enjoyed that theme more if it was explored in a different medium, like literature but with a movie I just got bored. And to quote the great Seth Green, no one deserves a mime. That's an interesting point about Javier Bardem. I hadn't thought of that!
ReplyDelete