Saturday, July 05, 2008

[Michelangelo Antonioni Retrospective] Antonioni, Lo Sguardo Che Cambio' Il Cinema (Antonioni: The Vision That Changed Cinema) (2001)

The other documentary screened today is this one, which is a more conventional documentary of sorts which traces the rise and success of Antonioni as a respected, and acclaimed filmmaker. There are plenty of behind the scenes clips and valuable photos from all his movies, and incorporated some segments from the earlier documentary by Lino Micciche.

Naturally, Monica Vitti also had some time devoted to her, as Antonioni shared how he met Vitti by chance, and started their collaboration when he signed her up as an understudy to Dorian Gray. The making of one of his most famous films, L'Avventura, was also given the spotlight, and we have Monica Vitti recounting the experience with the rough seas, an anecdote involving their lunches, and of course the notorious weather during filming. What perhaps was of extreme value here, was a deleted scene from the movie which was called "the cobbler scene", which involves a meeting up with a quirky cobbler who taught Claudia and Sandro some game.

Michelangelo Antonioni also talked about his philosophy in making films, and this documentary had plenty of interviews in one form or another, some gleaned from television, where we hear him speak about the films at length, and covered almost every feature film of his. Rounding up of course are the mentions of the numerous awards that he has garnered throughout his career, and the notable ones got featured in this documentary as well, where in one thank-you speech, he unselfishly acknowledged Vitti's hard work in his films.

I suppose this is one documentary that every Antonioni fan should without a doubt, get their hands on to watch.

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