The Michelangelo Antonioni Poll

sex without 'connecting' doesn't really seem so bad."

no wonder she hooked up w/ gay men

complete retro in NYC

https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/3894?locale=en

Wow

Michelangelo Antonioni's original ending was a shot of an airplane sky-writing the phrase "Fuck You, America," which was cut by MGM president Louis F. Polk along with numerous other scenes. Louis F. Polk was eventually replaced by James T. Aubrey, who had most of the cut footage restored, but without this final shot.

^ Zabriskie Point

lmao

maybe we could rescue that shot for a(ny) current film

Louis F. Polk OTM, the destruction of the house says exactly the same thing

the ending is already amazing and "Fuck You, America" is maybe too on the nose but damn I wish that footage was extant

polk not otm, he shd have cut everything else as well

the myth of Zabriskie Point being a piece of shit.... ugh. I avoided the movie for many years, in fact I remember the day Antonioni (and Bergman) died, my best friend's dad went on a long rant about how much ZP sucked. he compared it to Heaven's Gate (also unfairly savaged but still by no means a great film). But Zabriskie Point is an astonishing movie, easily one of his best and rivaled only by L'avventura & Red Desert imo. Blow-Up is the overrated one.

blow-up is also bad

blow-up sucks

But it was the first Antonioni I saw, will definitely see it again next time it plays in a theater in town.

it will still suck

man, mark s taking the Orson Welles view of Mike

ZP >> Blow-Up.

i think I like The Passenger and L'Eclisse better than either

well, yeah

but i like em all. really haven't seen any loathsome Antonioni.

Ditto. Really like some of the pre-L'Aventurra films too, Le Amiche in particular.

They're all pretty much great. L'eclisse narrowly first among a bunch of equals.

I love how they were able to work the title into the lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZwdTkBJxcU

I got to see ZP in 35mm during a full retro in '07. That print had the correct Pink Floyd music at the end instead of this studio-imposed Roy number, which unfortunately isn't the case with the DVD.

I find Red Desert pretty silly (ZP too) but I'm in the minority.

"Listen man, a molotov cocktail is a mixture of gasoline and kerosene. White radicalism is a mixture of bullshit and jive."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK0g_J1hhDc&t=243s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK0g_J1hhDc

ZP was my first Antonioni - made very little impression. I think it was the only one screened on TV regularly before The Passenger started doing the rounds.

That quote displays his reactionary politics (I guess this is where the doc on China might be useful to delve into this a bit more). I really don't care for almost any of the dialogue in his films, or what he thinks that could be written down. All the depth, focus and thinking went on in the image. Amazing any of it holds up over the length of a film, never mind four of them.

Watching Zabriskie Point.

Zabriskie Point is interesting as a marker for the beginning of the 70s

His most memorable films to me are from the 60s -
L’avventura, La notte, L’eclisse, and Il deserto rosso

Blowup was good too, but seemed more shallow when I watched it recently


I still haven’t seen The Passenger

Diana Halprin was married to Dennis Hopper for four years.

The energy or the vibe reminds me of The Model Shop in some ways - a shaggy story, a lot of drinking in of scenery (though this film has a lot of manufactured backdrops that help set a certain scene).

And man, what a soundtrack.

It got torn to shreds at the time, but I saw a good print in a theater once and enjoyed the apocalyptic trippiness and the soundtrack.

Has the Dick Cavett Show appearance been discussed yet?

PINK FLOYD RULES

Pink Floyd sucks but directors like Antonioni and Barbet Schroeder are good at framing them to make them look good

Blowup was good too, but seemed more shallow when I watched it recently

Interested in hearing why you think that about this one in specific. Most Antonioni I've seen boils down to beautiful people looking sad while walking down the streets of European cities - Zabriskie Point actually the closest I've seen him to being cerebral. But I think that kind of pure vibe filmmaking has its place and the pure beauty makes up for some of the emptiness.

Has the Dick Cavett Show appearance been discussed yet?

Amazing stuff. "Tonight on the show, Mel Brooks and TWO FUCKING CULT MEMBERS."

I remember reading in Astral Weeks about Jonathan Richman referring to “that Mel guy.”

The leader of the cult I mean, not Brooks.

I think he may have even built him a pizza oven.

Not guy, fellow. That Mel fellow.
Eden Ahbez, Jack Parsons, and other LA kooks...

Did we mention Antonioni visiting The Band whilst they were recording The Band in Sammy Davis Jr’s poolhouse?

gnna start saying that zabriskie point is actually abt jack parsons, hence the explosion at the end (spoiler)

(sadly it isn't tho, yet another reason why it's rubbish)

Relevant discussion starts around here: The Band.

Now starting to imagine Zabriskie Point with a Harry Nilsson soundtrack.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FmRosJmWIAMnNsP?format=png

Mark Frechette gave a good performance (dubbed into Italian) in Francesco Rosi's very dark and grim Many Wars Ago.