Michelangelo Antonioni

A young woman meets a vital young man, but their love affair is doomed because of the man’s materialistic nature.Read More »

Six separate episodes: would-be suicides discuss their despair. A provincial dance hall. An investigative reporter posing as a husband-to-be. A young unwed mother. Girl-watching techniques of Italian men. A glimpse into prostitution.

EP #1
Amore Che si Paga a.k.a Love for Money (11 min) directed by Carlo Lizani with a screenplay by Cesare Zavattini. A mosaic of scattered images where the night workers are followed by a man with provocative questions. The short feels as an interview in which the women explain their unfortunate profession.Read More »

Synopsis
Michelangelo Antonioni served as just one of three directors on this Dino de Laurentiis production that also corralled Franco Indovina (Antonioni’s assistant on three films) and Mauro Bolognini for three segments that all adhered to the titular theme, The Three Faces of a Woman: Il Provino, Latin Lover, and Famous Lovers. Il Provino (or Prefazione, The Preface), Antonioni’s contribution, stars a former member of Iranian royalty, Saroya; the entire film consists of her screen test. Indovina’s Latin Lover chronicles a professional woman’s experience with a male escort, hired by her business to keep her company on her travels to Rome. Finally, Bolognini’s Famous Lovers focuses on a woman whose marriage is threatened by an affair with a dashing young writer. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie GuideRead More »

Quote:
This ground-breaking film won a Special Jury Prize at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival and established its director, Michelangelo Antonioni, as a major international talent. The plot concerns a yachting trip by a small group of jaded socialites, including Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti), an aging architect who sold out for easy money long ago, his mistress Anna (Lea Massari), and her friend Claudia (Monica Vitti), who doesn’t fit in with the wealthy jet-setters’ dissolute ethics. When Anna disappears during a tour of a volcanic island, Claudia initially blames Sandro’s emotionally barren behavior toward her. As they search the island, however, Claudia and Sandro grow closer and — when it is apparent that Anna is gone forever — become lovers. Unfortunately, Sandro cannot find anything decent inside himself and betrays Claudia with a local prostitute. Caught in the act, Sandro has a heartrending breakdown on a desolate beach, but Claudia silently forgives him. L’avventura caught many audiences who were expecting a mystery by surprise; as in La notte (1961), The Eclipse (1962), and Red Desert (1964), Antonioni is interested less in developing a logical story than in exploring states of feeling and breakdowns in human connection.Read More »

Quote:
A documentary on China, concentrating mainly on the faces of the people, filmed in the areas they were allowed to visit. The 220 minute version consists of three parts. The first part, taken around Beijing, includes a cotton factory, older sections of the city, and a clinic where a Cesarean operation is performed, using acupuncture. The middle part visits the Red Flag canal and a collective farm in Henan, as well as the old city of Suzhou. The final part shows the port and industries of Shanghai, and ends with a stage presentation by Chinese acrobats.Read More »

Synopsis:
The many ways in which men are fascinated, compelled, and confused by their attraction to women are explored in this four part drama. As a filmmaker (John Malkovich) tries to sort out his plans for his next film, he considers several stories about women and the men who love them. Silvano (Kim Rossi Stuart) meets Carmen (Ines Sastre) and immediately asks her for a date, but despite his attraction, he can’t follow through on his feelings for her. The director spies a woman on the streets (Sophie Marceau) and follows her obsessively, but when he finally meets her, he’s disappointed, despite their mutual physical attraction. Read More »

The third feature film by cinema master Michelangelo Antonioni, La signora senza camelie [The Lady Without Camelias], expanded the expressive palette of contemporary Italian movies, demonstrating that a personal vision could take an explicitly poetic tack; that “seriousness = neo-realism” was perhaps already turning into something of a truism; and that Antonioni would answer to no-one but himself.Read More »

In late 1960s America, at Zabriskie Point, United State’s lowest point, two perfect strangers meet. Mark, a young undergraduate dreamer, during a massive students’ revolt, armed and on the run from the police, he steals a small aeroplane and flies to the safety of the Death Valley, across the vast Californian desert. There, the young hippie student, Daria, is driving across the empty stretch of highway in her Buick, and before long, the two rebellious youngsters will meet, starting off an unrestrained romance, making love at Zabriskie Point’s dusty terrain. Two perfect bodies in a flawed world.
— Nick Riganas.Read More »

Paola is a young, beautiful woman married to a wealthy entrepreneur. She meets her former lover Guido after seven years, but their relationship is marked by tragic events.Read More »