The Red Desert
May. 13th, 2023 07:53 am I started watching Antonioni's The Red Desert. I asked myself whether the chap who looked like a waxwork could really be Richard Harris. The answer was "yes". Then I went to sleep.
Later I gave myself a talking to. I said, "You've waited decades to watch this movie- and it would be feeble to give up halfway through." So I watched the rest.
Bergman said of Antonioni that he was undone by "his own tediousness." The Red Desert is authentically dreamlike- only it's a meandering, boring dream. If it were one of my own dreams I wouldn't bother recording it.
One of the sites I looked at said Bergman "hated" Antonioni. I don't think that was the case. I think Antonioni infuriated him. He saw a kindred talent going to waste.
Antonioni made three very great movies, L' Aventurra, Il Notte and L'Eclisse. The rest of his output is "interesting".
PS: There is no desert. And it isn't red.
PPS: Bergman and Antonioni died on the same day.
Later I gave myself a talking to. I said, "You've waited decades to watch this movie- and it would be feeble to give up halfway through." So I watched the rest.
Bergman said of Antonioni that he was undone by "his own tediousness." The Red Desert is authentically dreamlike- only it's a meandering, boring dream. If it were one of my own dreams I wouldn't bother recording it.
One of the sites I looked at said Bergman "hated" Antonioni. I don't think that was the case. I think Antonioni infuriated him. He saw a kindred talent going to waste.
Antonioni made three very great movies, L' Aventurra, Il Notte and L'Eclisse. The rest of his output is "interesting".
PS: There is no desert. And it isn't red.
PPS: Bergman and Antonioni died on the same day.