Franck Da Rocha
26Apr11
Why ?
Wall
Displaying wall posts 1 - 30 of 50 in total
Michael Harbour
31Mar12
That's two hours that could have been better utilized. An Eric Rohmer movie about people talking can be interesting. A Mike Leigh movie about people talking can be absorbing. Michelangelo Antonioni's "Red Desert" is only of interest when the actors shut up and we can enjoy some good industrial cinematography.
Langston Young likes this
DT
11Mar12
The narrative is typically introspective but there are several sides to this that make it especially engaging: the piercing industrial soundscape, the grey concrete and chemical wasteland which engulfs the characters’ lives, and the overall sense of alienation which is subsequently captured so clearly, with Monica Vitti’s bubbling psychosis personifying this in a subtle tour-de-force. A strangely sensual and sensuous experience, which I’m surprised so many here reacted poorly to - I’d say it’s actually one of Antonioni’s more immediately satisfying films.
Langston Young likes this
Franz Walsch
17Feb12
i think this film is one that needs a few watches to take it in completely, my first viewing oscillated between being completely enthralled at times and feeling ambivalent at others.
Slow-Immersion likes this
Matt Keane
17Feb12
Incredible composition and colour. No discernible plot or character development. As exciting as watching a beautiful painting dry. I didn't care about any of the characters, particularly the self-pitying Vitti. Pretentious doesn't even begin to cover it. Strictly for film students only.
Francisco R.
20Dec11
Red Desert picks up where Antionioni's informal trilogy left off, the aftermath in the life of a socially disoriented woman who hits rock bottom. A story that follows an anarchic, almost impenetrable series of events desperately trying to find some sense in a world of quiet madness.
Eric Dupont and 8 others like this
Nick Byrne, Wariaz, Girlfriend In a Coma, Nate, Mathieu Langlois, Blanche, Sonic Fruit, Kurt Walker
Leah Giblin
12Sep11
a haiku for RED DESERT: new world nature hums, mist and color overtake, a gorgeous breakdown
Kyril Negoda and 2 others like this
Mark Johns
10Aug11
Visually stunning surreal psychological drama set in post-war industrial Italy. Brilliant use of color to create a metaphor for the main character's sense of isolation.
Ace Craven
30Jul11
The most visually stunning film I have yet to see. Every frame is worth printing, framing and hanging on the wall. BEAUTIFUL. Told at a distance, ethereal and foggy. The 'stacks & tracks' MASTERPIECE. A slow dive into sickness. My only complaints are the non-vibrant characters and pauses between dialogue drive -which of course are also two things that make the film work in many ways. Steady beats -not loud ones.
menencorio and Ben Wheeler like this
Telly Pavlogianis
18Jul11
To claim that Red Desert is predominantly about any 'landscape' other than Giuliana's own mental landscape is a disservice; Giuliana is the "red desert," we are traversing her passionate, yet ultimately barren existence.
Max Slobodin and Товарищ Петя. like this
Girlfriend In a Coma and The Kid like this
Zachary George Najarian-Najafi
28Jun11
One of the most anxiety riddled films I've seen. It was like walking through my own mind. It made me nervous just sitting there and watching it. I love films that can do that to me. This is also one of the most visually beautiful films I've seen. God, Antonioni, you knock me out. Why did you never make another film like this?
Lee
13May11
Ya it's beautiful and I understand that Antonioni's schtick is to give us the feeling of emotional isolation just as we are emotionally isolated from society but I never really transcended with this film. Viti's performance is too weak to carry the film and some chick wandering around a wasteland for two hours gets old.
Franck Da Rocha
26Apr11
Visually beyond words. The colours and composition are the work of a painter. It is a visual poem in the sense that it conveys emotion, and that we can easily understand everything without the use of any words, just by the pure and simple contemplation of the beauty given to us un the movie.
Louis likes this
Erik Villasenor
27Mar11
Likely the most visually sweeping film ever made. The Red Desert is Intense, dark, but strangely optimistic. This nightmare of a movie will keep your eyes glued to the screen. I know I will watch this over and over again, if not for the fact that it is now one of my favorite films, but for Monica Vitti (what a fox).
All Is Grace
11Feb11
Although it was a really good film, but I think it fails at what it wants to be. Or maybe it was what I wanted it to be?
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Graveyard Poet
9Jan12
Antonioni's '60s malaise films are too sluggish and overtly austere to connect with us as an audience. (Although the finale of L'Eclisse has some haunting, poetic photography.) I think he finally achieved the subtle synthesis of character and mood he was searching for in The Passenger (in my opinion, by far his best film.)
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Aflwydd
2Feb11
Antonioni may have intended this work to be an ode to factories, but I found it to be one of the most terrifying films ever created. You're never allowed to escape from Guiliana's horror, whether because of the soundtrack, the imagery, the fragmented narrative, or Guiliana's increasingly hysterical manner. If you trust the tale and not the teller, you'll witness the greatest horror film in the art's history
Lucas Schlemper
24Jan11
Overrated. Monica Vitti's eerie presence just caught me in the beginning, but her mad woman's impersonation did not convince me through the movie at all. 3 stars.
