The film opens with molly brittany allen and her gangster boyfriend nick merwin mondesir driving through a desert highway on the way to an airfield amid a zombie outbreak. Antonioni liked the name, red desert, and he figured that maybe he would know why when the picture is ready for release. Oddly enough, there is no specific reason for the title of the film. The story of a neurotic wife and mother on the verge of a breakdown is certainly vague. Michelangelo antonioni red desert came out in 1964, almost twenty years after the end of the war, by which time italy had recovered from the devastation caused by that catastrophic event and was on the way toward modern prosperity. This time they are destined to become the first colonisers of the red planet. Don red barry, tom neal, jack holt, margia dean, byron. Antonioni once said of a mark rothko painting, its painted anxiety. Red desert il deserto rosso once more combines the considerable talents of director michelangelo antonioni and star monica vitti. Michelangelo antonionis 1960s panoramas of contemporary alienation were decadedefining artistic events, and red desert, his first color film, is perhaps his most epochal. The latest to reinvigorate it is it stains the sands red, a horror dramedy from grave encounters duo, the vicious brothers. There have been typically two ways of interpreting red desert. Antonioni uses the materials of a suspense thriller without the payoff. It is a rich world, alive and serviceable the neurosis i sought to describe in red desert is above all a matter of adjusting.
Red desert is at once the most beautiful, the most simple and the most daring film yet made by italys masterful michelangelo antonioni. Love blossoms from the dustiest ground in ulises rosells to the desert al desierto, a likably. The first, and one that was seized upon by those with a generally marxist critical disposition, was to view the film as an attack on modern society and as a condemnation of the ravages wreaked up on man by modern technology. A feminist film study may 8, 2014 themodernbeat leave a comment film, just like all art forms, has the extremely bold ability to transform itself to fit into the world around it, and be taken apart in the methods of deconstruction set up by the time period. Phenomenology and red desert film critic stanley kauffman relates the following conversation that took place over dinner with michelangelo antonioni and monica vitti during his visit to rome in 1964, prior to the release of red desert il deserto rosso, 1964. Il deserto rosso is a 1964 italian film directed by michelangelo antonioni. However, i never found the film to be boring, at least not to me. Overview of red desert, 1965, directed by michelangelo antonioni, with monica vitti, richard harris, carlo chionetti, at turner classic movies. The story about smith reads like a script for an adventure movie. There are just so many good things about red desert that i find it impossible to dislike. Red desert digs even deeper still into these issues by presenting a protagonist who feels cut off from authentic connection with everything in the world. This time the five members of the new isis mission will not travel the 400 million kilometers for a short visit. How criterion collection brings movies back from the dead duration.
Red desert 2012, directed by michelangelo antonioni film. At just 200 m in width, it stands in stark contrast to the surrounding lush, tropical vegetation. Apart from programming cinema, also offers a very unique workshops dedicated at creatring content for the audivisual market. On the occasion of michelangelo antonionis 100th birthday, weve decided to publish a piece on his 1964 classic, red desert, with a specific. Michelangelo antonionis first film in colour and his last in italy before he upped sticks to swinging london to shoot blowup red desert is about the suffering of those who. Leonard maltins movie guide, for example, calls it vague and boring. Industrial blight has never looked more beautiful than in director michelangelo antonionis first color film. Red desert this essay has been submitted by a student. The italian maestros stroll through the modern wasteland.
Red desert was antonionis first color film, and its perspective on modernity is filtered through giuliana, the neurotic lead character played by monica vitti. In an industrial area, giuliana, an unstable woman, attempts to cope with life by starting an affair with a coworker at the plant her husband manages. Michelangelo antonionis red desert, from 1964, which i discuss in. Against the grim backdrop of ravennas barren industrial wastelands brimming with flamebelching factories and deleterious chemical fumes, giuliana, a deeply dejected young mother on the brink of a total existential breakdown, seeks solace in one of her neglectful husbands handsome associates, corrado zeller. This provocative look at the spiritual desolation of the technological ageabout a disaffected woman, brilliantly portrayed by antonioni muse monica vitti, wandering through a bleak industrial landscape beset by power. This is not an example of the work written by professional essay writers. Then i found the spell of the movie settling around me. Every detail of every frame is now visible, and as film fans, we can just sit back and let the movie work on us the way its makers intended. With one startling, painterly composition after another, red desert creates a nearly apocalyptic image of its time, and confirms antonioni as cinemas preeminent poet of the modern age.
The solving of crises fascinates antonioni to whom, it is obvious, happy lives make a dull show. Michelangelo antonioni embraces color for the first time in red desert, deploying a searing palette and monica vittis exquisite performance to tell a curious tale of. A closer look at michelangelo antonionis red desert nick newman september 29, 2012 on the occasion of michelangelo antonioni s 100th birthday, weve decided to publish a piece on his 1964 classic, red desert, with a specific focus on its neorealist roots and threetier implementation of color. But ironically, as he expands his palate, he compresses the breadth of human emotion into an even more compact sine wave, a frequency that no doubt matches the films uncompromising electronic music score. The first time we see monica vittis character giuliana, the italian woman whose mental struggle with her environment is chronicled in michelangelo antonionis red desert 1964, she is an olivegreen figure walking along a black, desolate wasteland. The film is a distillation of antonionis preferred themes and imagery. She comes to the movie bearing dramatic freight taken on board during the trilogy of movies that preceded red desert. Red desert organizes and conducts programming, courses and thematic exhibitions of various genders film noir, documentaries dedicated to specific areas, childrens programming, author movies, as well as commercial cinema. If you need an original literary analysis essay written from scratch, place your order at. Admittedly, this protagonist is psychologically disturbed, but her character is eerily comprehensible and metaphorically represents a psychological malaise that underlies our modernist culture. There is much debate about michelangelo antonioni and cinematographer carlo di palmas intentions for the highly controlled and extremely expressive use of color in red desert 1964. Red desert is a disturbing ambient drama about postnatal anxiety and the malaise of industrial society. With monica vitti, richard harris, carlo chionetti, xenia valderi.
Cast as giuliana, an unhappy wife, vitti suffers from an unnamed. Il deserto rosso is a 1964 italian film directed by michelangelo antonioni and starring monica vitti with richard harris. Beloye solntse pustyni is a 1970 eastern or ostern film of the soviet union its blend of action, comedy, music and drama, as well as memorable quotes, made it highly successful at the russian boxoffice, and it retains high domestic approval. Jun 20, 2017 wyoming chronicle travels to the red desert to understand the beauty, land use and challenges of managing the 9,000plus square miles that make up high altitude desert and sagebrush steppe located. Jun 23, 2010 with red desert, antonioni reloads and renders that critical indifference in full color.
Jul 26, 2012 red desert is a disturbing ambient drama about postnatal anxiety and the malaise of industrial society. Grant joseph crehan and colonel mcmasters tom london assigning him the task of capturing a notorious man of many disguises and aliases, lefty jordon, killer and robber of government gold bullion. Port edwards unusual claim to fame is the red desert, reputed to be the smallest desert in the world. This green, a symbol of nature and tranquility, contrasts with the orange flames pulsing from the factory and the blackened trees that run. Oct 04, 2017 argentinian writerdirector ulises rosells road movie premiered at the basque country festival. Plot summary president grant authorizes the pecos kid to hunt down a gold thief who has escaped into the desert with a fortune. To the desert poem analysis read a free literary analysis. In the chapter red queen, reisner describes the irony of the very idea of taming the west, since the new society has to run just to stay in placeor, keep developing new water projects in order to sustain the unsustainable yet heavily populated oasis in the great american desert. Red desert the criterion collection criterioncollection.
Jun 21, 2010 a new man is being born, fraught with all the fears and terrors and stammerings that are associated with a period of gestation. A closer look at michelangelo antonionis red desert. In this world the current the criterion collection. The american west and its disappearing water essays and criticism. Written by antonioni and tonino guerra, it was antonionis first color film. Antonioni spiritually enters the 60s with this fascinating experimental movie about the malaise of industrial society, writes peter bradshaw. Red desert occupies a curious place in antonionis canon. Point of no return by rita carla francesca monticelli. Michelangelo antonioni embraces color for the first time in red desert. The story follows a troubled woman vitti living in an industrial region of northern italy following a recent automobile accident.
A seminal ecopsychological nightmare, red desert stars antonionidi palma muse monica vitti as giuliana, an industrialists wife who stumbles through the toxic wasteland in which she lives under the influence of an obscure, debilitating anxiety. As he muses about his fate, he recalls president u. The line and curves of factories and their chimneys can be more beautiful than the outline of trees, which we are already too accustomed to seeing. Michelangelo antonioni red desert came out in 1964, almost twenty years after the end of the war, by which time italy had recovered from. Sep 29, 2012 a closer look at michelangelo antonionis red desert nick newman september 29, 2012 on the occasion of michelangelo antonioni s 100th birthday, weve decided to publish a piece on his 1964 classic, red desert, with a specific focus on its neorealist roots and threetier implementation of color. Read the full literary analysis essay paper on to the desert poem analysis. Jun 21, 2010 thus, i think even for devotees of red desert, this new dvd is going to be a real eye opener. Essays and criticism on marc reisners cadillac desert. Jul 28, 2012 i n his first polychromatic movie, made in 1964 and now revived in a new print to celebrate the centenary of his birth, antonioni uses colour that manages to be simultaneously dazzling and dull in. Immediately download the red desert film summary, chapterbychapter analysis, book notes, essays, quotes, character descriptions, lesson plans, and more everything you need for studying or teaching red desert film. Lauded by a growing number of critics as italian master michelangelo antonionis magnum opus, the visually arresting red desert il deserto. Like the latter films, it featured monica vitti as a modern woman confronted by a spiritually bereft world of shallow relationships, beautiful but meaningless landscapes, and existential angst. Watching blowup once again, i took a few minutes to acclimate myself to the loopy psychedelic colors and the tendency of the hero to use words like fab austin powers brilliantly lampoons the era.
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