L’Eclisse 1962 + Zabriskie Point 1970
Last night I got hold of Zabriskie Point (1970), Antonioni’s much-maligned American film which he made for MGM in 1969. I go into films knowing little or nothing about them usually, but this film, I remember, had a really bad reputation. One quote I remember reading when I was a teenager was:
“A jumbled disaster from the hugely talented Antonioni. Another essay about desolation and alienation and it’s entirely appropriate. . one of the locations used is Death Valley. One of the many mistakes by Antonioni was the casting of a non-professional actor, Frechette, to play the role of Mark, a radical.” – *, Steven Scheuer, Movies on TV, 1978-79).
Afterwards, I watched L’Eclisse again, which was really interesting second time around. Not that La Notte and L’Avventura were particularly wordy, but the third film (in the so-called trilogy) is even less so. Strong visuals throughout. Started writing down lots of thoughts
Heading out to see Blade Runner, Mark II
I’ve found obstacles, many times, to getting to a cinema to see this long-awaited sequel. I haven’t gone with my normal lightness-of-feeling. I’m concerned that this film is going to be unfaithful to the style of Ridley Scott’s original, or director’s cut. I’m worried that Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling are going to team up to hunt down and retire more Replicants. I’m worried that it will be violent without having enough interest in the kind of questions the original film raised; that it will draw on the obvious visual aspects of Blade Runner and – like so many sequels – pick up from where the story ended in 2019 and give a one-dimensional futuristic sci-fi narrative.
I’m getting in the car, heading towards an uncertain future.
