The classic Michelangelo Antonioni style is seen in chrysalis here, just before his international breakout in L’AVENTURA in 1960. Steve Cochran has lived with married Alida Valli for 7 years, but when news of her husband’s death comes, he’s dumped for a younger man. He quits town to roam the muddy Po Valley with daughter in tow looking for a life, a job, a woman, a feeling; something to fill the gap. Although the plot mechanics are less vague & the people more grindingly lower class than in Antonioni’s later manner, the themes of alienation, existentialism, & angst-ridden passion spent amongst industrial wastelands are already in place. Antonioni demonstrates his talent for compositional management between man, land & structure, but he remains a one-trick pony of an artist for whom your first encounter will mesmerize while latter visits go reductio ad absurdum. Choose your initial pic carefully.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment