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Originally Posted by demonrail666

Someone who hasn't been mentioned yet is Monica Vitti, the only actor for me who seemed to get Antonioni instinctively. That's not so important for some directors but I think he's one who did require very specific things from very specific kinds of actors and Vanessa Redgrave and David Hemmings have both admitted to admiring Antonioni but not really understanding what he wanted from them, which I think is a big problem throughout Blow Up, with too many scenes coming over a bit too much like amateur dramatics. Although it's not just the absence of Vitti; he worked ok with Jack Nicholson, but that may be because Nicholson didn't even try to understand him.

And those shirts, I know, shocking.

they looked like they were sponsored by some kind of citrus-based beverage for children--

 

anyway monica vitti of course, well, that creature is an alien from a place far above ourselves. i like her more, i think, in l'eclisse. but fuck yeah.

ANYWAY, i was looking at the criterion website and reading an essay by gene youngblood (no longer young btw, i've met him in person) and i found this HILARIOUS shitty-ass trailer for l'avventura. watch it:

http://www.criterion.com/films/209-l-avventura

see how they present it as some sort of "erotic thiller", almost some kind of soft porn, like emmanuelle, or something by just jaeckin?

that's the kind of approach people have towards blow-up, like it's about the titillation oh-so-magnificent london of the 60s-- but no!

that essay by youngblood quotes a phrase by antonioni i had heard/read before; "eros is sick" (i think i heard in on the commentary of l'eclisse). the same theme runs through l'avventura, l'eclisse, and of course blow-up-- all the fucking and drug parties and running around are not really meant to be "cool", but pathetic, meaningless, boring.