This is becoming a sad series of posts about classic European film directors taking their leave.
Michelangelo Antonioni has died at the age of 94.
I only know two of his films, but they're both fascinating. Blow Up is perhaps the one he's best known for, and it's long been a favourite.
Zabriskie Point is maybe a bit less known, but it's certainly at least equally interesting. (Not least for the soundtrack) It is certainly a big mess of a film (it was an utter flop at the time) and may have its somewhat dated moments, caught up as it was in the Zeitgeist of its time.
Nonetheless, it managed to capture some beautiful images of both dreamy utopianism (some visible in the trailer)...
...and furious--but still dreamy--destruction (set to music by Pink Floyd).
And, somehow, it managed to bring them together, if not completely coherently.
Its incoherence, though, was one of the more charming qualities, I always thought, of both the film...and the time from which it emerged.
Though, I suppose this film is more a farewell to whatever potential the 60s had than a celebration of it.
And on that note...
Ciao, Michelangelo.
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