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Originally Posted by DanielCarlson
I'd like to see this top 50 list you keep talking about.  I think we share quite some favorite movies, even if Red Desert isn't one of them. |
Sure!
50. back against the wall (james fotopoulos)
49. once upon a time in the west (sergio leone)
48. taste of tea (katsuhito ishii)
47. glen or glenda? (ed woo)
46. freddy got fingered (tom green)
45. daisies (vera chytilová)
44. performance (roeg/cammel)
43. koyannisqatsi (godfrey reggio)
42. liquid sky (slava tsukerman)
41. ariel (aki kaurismaki)
40. chungking express (wong kar wai)
39. a clockwork orange (stanley kubrick)
38. ten (abbas kiarostami/)
37. brain damage (frank henenlotter)
36. death powder (shigeru izumiy)
35. stroszek (werner herzog)
34. satantango (bela tarr)
33. maboroshi (hirokazu koreeda)
32. chelsea girls (paul morrissey/andy warhol)
31. killing of a chinese bookie (john cassavettes)
30. the red desert (michaelangelo antonioni)
29. slow motion (aka every man for himself) (jean luc godard)
28. torso (sergio martino)
27. to live and die in la (william friedkin)
26. reflections of evil (damon packard)
25. out of the blue (dennis hopper)
24. the deer hunter (michael cimino)
23. end of evangelion (hideaki anno)
22. bad lieutenant (abel ferrara)
21. the bed you sleep in (jon jost)
20. maniac (william lustig)
19. videodrome (david cronenberg)
18. love is colder than death (rainer werner fassbinder)
17. cafe lumiere (hsiao-hsien hou)
16. touch me in the morning (giuseppe andrews)
15. august in the water (sogo ishii)
14. tokyo fist (shinya tsukamoto)
13. the killer (john woo)
12. funeral procession of roses (toshio matsumoto)
11. persona (ingmar bergman)
10. holy mountain (alejandro jodorowsky)
9. possession (andrzej zulawski)
8. blow out (brian depalma)
7. pierrot le fou (jean luc godard)
6. pastoral: to die in the country (shuji terayama)
5. branded to kill (seijin suzuki)
4. eureka (shinji aoyama)
3. hana-bi (takeshi kitano)
2. el topo (alejandro jodorowsky)
1. taxi driver (martin scorcese)
for right now.
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But yes, it's something with it. I thought a bit about the movie earlier today actually, it's still there in my head even though it didn't do that much for me at the time when I watched it. I'll probably watch it again.
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Well -- and it's hard to find the proper wording for this -- but I usually "get" movies pretty quickly, uhh... if you know what I mean. Like, I can usually tell what the director is going for -- and, don't get me wrong, lots of people can, with most films -- what themes and ideas he's exploring and so on. Right? Well, with the Red Desert, on first watch, I felt, like... NOTHING. It just seemed so abstract. Colorful, pretty as hell, and wonderful musically... but just so abstract, to the point where I just didn't understand what the fuck I was watching, and it was over, and that was that, right?
But like I said, I continued to think about it, because the toxic, overwhelming, dystopian landscapes of the film are unlike any I've ever seen; just an amazing atmosphere. But, really, simplifying it a bit, but to me, the film is actually all about color (hell, it has a color in the title); it was Antonioni's first color film, and he clearly went through a lot of trouble
painting the grass (!), painting streets, color-coordinating certain scenes, whatever. I guess I always liked it on that conceptual, visual level from the beginning anyway, but after watching the film again, I began to see
why the colors were used -- in my mind, at least -- and what the film was really trying to say. By the 3rd watch, I considered it one of the best movies ever made. And to me, it's like a difficult album you learn to love later; so many albums I hear are obvious and predictable -- that doesn't mean the songs are bad, it just means that it's easy to consume and probably easy to forget. Or, even if it's easy to
love, perhaps it won't stick with you later -- you take it for granted.
I found Red Desert a hard film to love, initially, but it just wouldn't go away. It wouldn't leave me. And now I can put up with any perceived flaws I had with it. It is a bit wandering- and aimless-seeming, but to me, that cold, flat, monotone style contrasts strangely and beautifully with the colorful world. And then the music ALSO clashes... very interesting contrasts... and I kept thinking how this is one of the most overwhelming films I've ever seen, there's just so much to take in; even when it doesn't appear to be doing "anything", conventionally, it's throwing 3 clashing things at you, aesthetically. I really love how a lot of the film is blurry, also (the main character is never blurred, but objects around her are often out of focus). To me, it all comes together beautifully....
But yeah, the problems you had with it, I definitely had with it initially; I think it does help to watch a few more Antonioni films, because he really has such a unique style, and I think it's easier to appreciate something like the Red Desert once you see some more of his films. He's one of my all time favorite directors, and at times, I'm not sure why -- it's not something I can put into words -- and that's the point. Well, sorta.