ANTONIONI AND HITCHCOCK

I vinti - Strangers on a Train
Il grido - Vertigo
L'avventura - Psycho
Il deserto rosso - Marnie
Blow-Up - Rear Window
Zabriskie Point - North by Northwest
Profession: Reporter - The Man Who Knew Too Much

L'avventura

Seikkailu / Äventyret / The Adventure. IT/FR 1960. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. 141 min. The restored version by Mediaset / Compass Film etc. A Cinecittà Holding print with English subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion, 7 September 2008. - The definitive version, but print has a slightly duped look (not quite sharp). - I watched the first reel of the masterpiece only. In Rome, Anna (Lea Massari) says goodbye to his father. He has retired from his job as a diplomat (decades of lies), and is now retiring from his position as a father. In vain he warns Anna from Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti, famous from having portrayed Casanova and Puccini). He has seen through him. Anna and Claudia (Monica Vitti) drive to Sandro, at whose home Anna seduces him to make love. They start the sea journey on a yacht to the Aeolian islands of Sicily. The sense of freedom and alienation is unique from the outset. In Antonioni's obituaries (the best of which was written by Martin Scorsese in The New York Times) this film's status as a turning-point in film history was confirmed. It taught us a new way to see.

Con Michelangelo

IT 2005. D: Enrica Antonioni. 58 min. Dvd from Cinecittà Holding viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 6 September 2008. - Painting with the assistance of a young woman. - Driving to Cannes, meeting Thierry Frémaux. Since his paralysis in a stroke in 1985 Antonioni was unable to speak. - Looks beautiful for a dvd. - I saw the first 20 min only.

Antonioni, lo sguardo che cambiò il cinema

Antonioni: The Eye That Changed Cinema. IT 2001. D: Carlo di Carlo, Sandro Lai. 60 min. A Betacam from Cinecittà Holding with English subtitles by Charlotte Lantery viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 6 September 2008. - A comprehensive and exciting compilation of Antonioni's statements about his art, from his early shorts till Al di là delle nuvole. - L'avventura outtake (the cobbler game). - Antonioni & Monica Vitti screening rushes. - The question of colour: the blatant manipulation in Il deserto rosso and Blow-Up. "I changed London to become more London". - "Each film is a battle". - Blow-Up: "other films I did with my stomach, this one with my head". - Zabriskie Point difficult to film because of the US working methods, difficult to improvise. - Chung Kuo Cina: the concept of community, belonging. The trouble afterwards was related to the status of Chou En Lai. - Professione: reporter: the first film not based on my own script. More discreet narrative. - Il mistero di Oberwald: tv cameras, electronics, changing colour at will. - Identificazione di una donna: "not characters in crisis but characters who reveal crises." - 1983: "screens are getting smaller, tv sets bigger." - Quantum physics: "nothing is certain." - Communicating incommunication. - Silence. - Against shot / counter-shot. "People misunderstand each other even face to face." - "For Wenders, film-making is crazy fun, for me, almost suffering." - "The woman is a subtler filter of reality, with more ties to mystery." - "The moral purpose in life can also be called God." - Antonioni exhibition with artwork based on Il deserto rosso. - The companionship of Enrica Antonioni. Filming Al di là delle nuvole, Enrica: "Wim is an angel". The tender look at Enrica. "The most courageous." Final image: Jack Nicholson extends him the Oscar in 1995.

Chung Kuo - Cina parte 1

Chung Kuo - Kiina osa 1 / Antonionis Kina 1 / China 1. IT (c) 1972 RAI. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. SC: Antonioni, Andrea Barbato. DP: Luciano Tovoli - original format? - colour - print 35mm. TV documentary. The whole film 207 min, the first part 76 min. A 35mm Cinecittà print with English subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 2 September 2008. - A good 35mm print, with full colour, as good as it gets, of a film that was apparently shot on 16mm. - Antonioni's fascinating tv documentary was made when China was barely emerging from the purgatory / hell of the Cultural Revolution, and Antonioni was one of the early witnesses of China's opening. - The documentary is honestly presented as one strictly controlled by the authorities. - It starts on the Tiananmen Square, the children's song "I Love Tiananmen Square", the center of the world, Chung Kuo meaning "the central country". - Antonioni traces faces, gestures, habits. We are conscious of the bans and restrictions imposed on him. - Tai chi. - Caesarean section with acupuncture anaesthesia. - The society of a huge textile factory, with kindergartens, simple homes, work is not hectic. - Art and culture to the masses. - The Great Wall. - The Holy Road of the Spirits. - The Museum of the Revolution. - The life in the land is constant struggle. Visiting farms and markets. - Back in Peking, in the Forbidden City, which has recently been opened. Interminable waiting of the imperial era brings to mind Kafka. - An old woman whose feet were deformed in the old era. - The new Peking, new urbanization. - Tien Tan: the Temple of the Heaven. - Cheng An: the puppet theatre with many puppet musicians.

Antonionin lyhytelokuvia 2

Kortfilmer av Antonioni 2 / Antonioni Shorts 2. IT 1978-1997. Tapes and prints from Cinecittà Holding. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 31 August 2008.
Ritorna a Lisca Bianca. IT 1983. PC: RAI Tre. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Carlo Di Palma. 8 min. Betacam, alas. - Revisiting the location of L'avventura.
Gianni Moretti: Fotoromanza. IT 1984. P: Maurizio La Pira. D+SC: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Luciano Tovoli (video). 6 min. Betacam. - A music video to Gianni Moretti's pop song "Fotoromanza", a typical music video of its era. The artist in the room watching a monitor. Numbers flying from the telephone. Smoke emerging from behind the door. Slow motion. Solarization. Manhattan skyline and gangster cliches. Boxing motifs. Clumsy superimpositions. The music video now looks like a parody of the early MTV era, and the audience could not help but laugh.
Kumbha Mela. IT 1989. P: Enrica Antonioni. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Carlo Di Palma. 18 min. Betacam, alas. - A devout vision of the Hindi purification rites in the holy water of the river Ganges, beautifully shot, with haunting Indian music.
Roma '90. IT 1990. PC: Recta Film / Istituto Luce et Ministerio del Turismo e dello Spettacolo. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Fiorenza Muller. M: baroque classics such as Vivaldi. 10'. - A wonderful view of the beauty of the buildings, statues and paintings of Rome, focusing finally on the Cappella Sistina, Michelangelo meeting Michelangelo, final image: God's hand gives spirit to Man. In gorgeous colour in analogue 35mm.
Noto, Mandorli, Vulcano, Stromboli, Carnevale. IT 1992. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Felice de Maria. 11 min. A cluster of five short films from the Sicilian area and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Visions of volcanic power and a Sicilian carneval. Splendidly beautiful in a brilliant 35mm print.
Sicilia. IT 1997. PC: Arancia Cinema. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Maurizio Dell'Orco. 12 min. Volcano, ruins, clouds, fountain, market, woman on the beach. Delicious views in a gorgeous 35mm print.
Antonioni vista da Antonioni. IT 1978. PC: Unità Procuttiva CCS. D+interviewer: Lino Miccichè. DP: Luciano Tovoli. Interviewee: Michelangelo Antonioni. 26 min. Betacam, very bad visual quality with horizontal lines, sound unnatural. - Antonioni in good form in this interview that starts from Gente del Po. His early interest in the private and the social. The Italian episode of I vinti destroyed by censorship (Neofascism as a subject not allowed). The theme of the falsification of images. I have always had to fight to make my films, some have been huge commercial flops. When I started, melodramas such as Catene were popular. I made unfeeling melodramas. The market tried to isolate Antonioni. Le amiche: the outlook on life very different from Pavese. I focus on female characters because women are a more subtle filter of reality. The psychological stress in the working class because of the lack of money.

Professione: reporter

Ammatti: reportteri / Yrke: reporter. IT/ES/FR 1975. PC: Compagnia Cinematografica Champion. P: Carlo Ponti. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Luciano Tovoli - Metrocolor - 1:1,85. Starring Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider. 126 min. A Cinecittà International print. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 28 August 2008. - A dupe with flat colour. - I checked the start only.

Zabriskie Point

US 1970. PC: MGM. P: Carlo Ponti. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Alfio Contini - Metrocolor - Panavision 1:2,35. PD: Dean Tavoularis. M: Pink Floyd, Jerry Garcia. Starring Mark Frechette (Mark), Daria Halprin (Daria). 110 min. A Cinecittà International print. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 27 August 2008. - A beautiful print with perfect colour. - Revisiting the first half hour of Antonioni's first and only American film.

I vinti

The Vanquished / Les Vaincus / [Voitetut] / [De besegrade]. IT/FR 1952. PC: Film Costellazione / S.G.C. P: Paolo Moffa. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. Ass. D: Francesco Rosi. SC: Michelangelo Antonioni, Giorgio Bassani, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Diego Fabbri, Roger Nimier, Turi Vasile. DP: Enzo Serafin. M: Giovanni Fusco. ED: Eraldo Da Roma. FRANCIA: Jean-Pierre Mocky (Pierre), Etchika Choureau (Simone). ITALIA: Franco Interlenghi (Claudio), Anna-Maria Ferrero (Maria). INGHILTERRA: Peter Reynolds (Aubrey), Fay Compton (Mrs. Pinkerton), Patrick Barr (Kent Watton). 113 min. Original version in French, Italian, and English. The all-Italian dubbed version print from Cinecittà Holding with English subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 26 August 2008. - The opening lecture is about the brutalization after the war, a new form of crime: teenage delinquents from quiet, well-off families, desire to emerge as heroes through crime and violence, deeds blown up by the press. - A bit wooden and conventional direction, Antonioni not yet in full bloom. - In the French episode the blocking of the actors in the wood is already interesting in the same way as Le amiche later. Mocky shot for his false notes. - In the Italian episode there is the chase of the young smuggler, already fatally hurt. - The English episode is the most interesting, apparently inspired by Strangers on a Train: the psychopathic self-centeredness and lack of empathy by Aubrey, the proposal of a diabolic pact, the strangling, the train, the tennis, "the death of a human being is of no importance". The episode also has interesting links with Blow-up (the corpse in the wood, the elusive motive). -
Splendid traditional music by Fusco. - The cinematography of Enzo Serafin cannot be fully appreciated in this duped print with a mediocre definition of light.

Gente del Po

IT 1943/1947. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. 12 min. Print: Scuola Nazionale di Cinema / Cineteca Nazionale. English subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 19 August 2008. - Antonioni's first film, shot in 1943 and released in 1947. A documentary on a barge on the River Po, carrying sacks of grain, with a family of husband, wife and daughter living in it. Una vita dura. Navigating is not easy, it requires skill, we see moving bridges, a horse on the horizon, hay-making, an old mill. The river gives also a dream of mobility. People as silhouettes on the horizon. Young people flirt. The daughter falls ill, is tenderly cared for. There is a rising wind, a storm, the water rises, the earth gets muddy, the village is at the mercy of the water, the sweet water of the Po, and the bitter of the Adriatic Sea. - A dignified entry in the cinema's venerable river boat subgenre.