Director Spotlight: Michelangelo Antonioni

Michelangelo Antonioni can be best remembered as an aesthete. His films were never lacking in beauty, and his long shots and sparse dialogue were some of his trademarks in cinema. He was the filmmaker's filmmaker, choosing visuals over dialogue and substance over form. In between his neorealist beginnings, and his later successful English film, Blowup (1966), lies a 'trilogy' of films devoted to love, life, and meaning. They are L'Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), and L'Eclisse (1962).

L'Avventura starred a then-unknown Monica Vitti, as Claudia, a girl who goes on a yacht trip with her best friend, Anna (Lea Massari), Anna's boyfriend, Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti), and some rich friends. Anna starts the film expressing her lackadaisical feelings for Sandro and her life situation. After swimming off the coast of Sicily, the crew ends up on a deserted volcanic island. Hours pass, and as the friends are ready to leave, Anna goes missing. As the party disperses on their search, Claudia and Sandro develop feelings for each other. Existential themes abound, Claudia expresses her confusion and inner turmoil, now that she is in love with her missing best friend's boyfriend. The two of them embark on a voyage that is part vacation, part search for Anna, part diversion from reality. The rest of the party goes on forgetting that Anna disappeared without a trace. This movie is particularly haunting because of the stark contrast of the beautiful imagery to the cold indifference of the characters. Sandro and Claudia exhibit ineffable feelings, pure and human. The film ends in sad portrayal of love and life lost.

In La Notte, we see a similar disconnect between man and woman. Marcello Mastroianni plays Giovanni, an established author, and Jeanne Moreau (speaking perfect Italian), his wife. The film surrounds a day in the life of the couple, where they visit a dying friend, go to a book party for Giovanni, a nightclub, and then a fancy party in the suburbs. Sparse dialogue, and beautifully cut scenes populate most of the film. Most scenes have at least one shot where the camera is docked at one focal point and the action flows in and out, as if we're observing rather than trailing the plot along. Jeanne's character appears disinterested, sad, and bored, while Marcello's Giovanni is pained and tired. Together they form 1/2 a couple, with neither really attempting to put in more effort to salvage their marriage. It resonates as a 1960s marriage set upon a post-industrial Italian modernist society, and the failures and existential issues each individual must deal with. Monica Vitti plays Giovanni's potential love interest, with great charm and success. Another beautiful story from a true modernist.

L'Eclisse, starring Vitti as Vittoria, and Alain Delon as Piero, glides along a similar theme of a woman's search for meaning in a reality less than spectacular. Vitti is engaged to Francisco Rabal, but their engagement ends within 15 minutes of the film's opening. Antonioni uses the camera well, by slowly focusing on images, faces, and stares, and holding our attention to his symbolism (an empty picture frame, the reflection of her shoes on the glossy lacquered floor of Rabal's apartment, etc). After dumping Rabal, Vitti ends up with stockbroker Delon, only to find that she's just as unhappy. This film is harder to analyse than his previous two, since the ending montage leaves much to the imagination. L'Eclisse (the Eclipse) could refer to the eclipse of Vitti's heart after two failed relationships, or the eclipsing of urban life by suburban ennui (she inhabits the lonely, dreary suburbs of Rome, full of apartment complexes, construction projects, vacant parking lots, and incessantly burning street lamps). Either way, this film is more morose than the others, yet we see Vitti smiling and laughing, which lightens it up towards the end. Regardless, it's a fitting end to a humanistic, modernist film trilogy.

Director Spotlight: Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman was an existential hero. His movies were imbued with the melancholy, philosophical renderings of fellow Scandinavian Soren Kirkegaard. His movies were not only extensions of existential thought, but were treatments of the absurd, sad, and bizarre aspects of human life.

He employed his actors in roles that often times were inscrutable and devoid of logical truths. Some of his most remarkable works were the most difficult to decipher. He had a long, fruitful career, and enjoyed a meaningful life. He was an inspiration to any filmmaker (Woody Allen cites him as his idol), and to cult and foreign film adorers alike. He made many, many films over the course of his 60 year career, and some of them I highlight below. If you were to glean anything from his oeuvres, it would be this: he is auteur theory exemplified.


The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet), 1957
Wild Strawberries (Smultronstallet), 1957
Persona, 1966
Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander), 1982

[commentary coming soon]

Actor Spotlight: Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando was a legend. He established himself in performing on stage, but with Elia Kazan's film direction, he showcased his amazing character portrayals on film. His role in Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront cemented his acting credibility. Elia Kazan's portrayal of the mob on the docks in 1950s New York was melancholy, gritty, and spectacular. Brando surged forward with that role. Playing tough but sweet Terry Malloy, a former boxer turned docksman, he is forced to confront his mobster brother and his own role in the death of a friend. (My favorite quote: "I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.") Up against the mob, this movie was a thinly-veiled story about a good vs. 'evil' trial that Elia Kazan faced when he turned over famous actors, directors & writers (including Arthur Miller) to the House of Un-American Activities Committee, run by Sen. McCarthy, in the 50s. With that frame of reference, the backstory makes the movie resonate on a whole other level. Quite amazing.

Getting back to Brando, most will remember him for his role as Don Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. I like to think of him in his subtler roles. For example, he excelled in Bernando Bertolucci's 1972 film, Ultimo Tango A Parigi (Last Tango in Paris). In this movie all the sick & twisted parts of his character come out in a perfect portrayal of love, lust and sadness in Paris in the 1970s. Gorgeous!

[Commentary on Mutiny on the Bounty and Apocalypse Now coming soon!]


Scene from Last Tango in Paris is below:

Actor Spotlight: Al Pacino

It goes without saying that Al Pacino is one of the best film actors to come along in the last half century. With every role he throws himself into the character. From sad-eyed, heroin addict Bobby in The Panic In Needle Park (which helped catapult him to stardom in his next film, The Godfather), to hard-lined, vengeful Tony Montana in Scarface (yes, I had to go there), he compels the viewer to sympathize with him and ultimately, root for him. He's always up against something-- there's always a struggle (existential or external)-- amidst a backdrop of the human condition: famiglia, drugs, identity, love, what matters.

My favorites (in somewhat chronological order):

The Panic in Needle Park (1971, breakout role)

Pacino's first role was Bobby, a young drug dealer living at 72nd and Broadway in New York. That intersection, officially called Sherman Square, was known colloquially as 'Needle Park', where all the drug addicts congregated. Bobby meets a young girl named Helen, who dated a fellow user before they got together. He exposes her to the drug world, which to her was fascinating, and for him was just a way of life. He rises to the level of drug king, meanwhile Helen sinks into a seedy underworld, using, abusing, hooking and being an accomplice to Bobby's illegal ways. Although Bobby harbors genuine feelings and intentions for Helen, his character is inherently flawed and so addicted that he can't help but fall into one trap after the next. Pacino plays it so well it's hard to hate him. Quite the opposite, he evokes sympathy and we fall for him like Helen does.

The Godfather (1972, dir. by Francis Ford Coppola, Oscar nom)
The Godfather: Part II (1975, dir. by Francis Ford Coppola, Oscar nom)

Michael Corleone was his plum role. He starts off as a kind-hearted ex-Military man who shuns the family 'business', date Diane Keaton and lives in New York. When the attempted hit comes on his father (played by Marlon Brando), his character starts to turn. He becomes the ruthless, vindictive, hard-core Pacino that we really love. Although his trademark loud outbursts have yet to originate here, this role starts him on a trajectory that is nothing short of stellar. A role of a lifetime.
Favorite quotes: "It's nothing personal, Sonny. It's strictly business."
"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."


Serpico (1973, dir. by Sidney Lumet, Oscar nom)

Dog Day Afternoon (1975, dir. by Sidney Lumet, Oscar nom)

In this Sidney Lumet film, based on the true story of a robbery that happened in Brooklyn in 1973, Pacino plays Sonny, a lovesick anti-hero that attempts to rob a bank to secure cash for his boyfriend to have a sex change. (That part isn't even revealed until later, when Chris Sarandon, who plays his 'wife', comes into the film in a ridiculously amazing supporting role.) He's low-key, subtle, and sensitive when dealing with the hostages in the bank. But when interacting with the cops, and soon after the FBI, he starts his trademark outbursts: "Attica! Attica! Attica!" he yells, referencing the Attica jail riots where the cops tried to suppress the inmates and all hell broke loose. The scenes have a heavy backdrop of 1970s liberal anti-establishment sentiment, which resonates even today. A great piece of history cemented in film: it captures a single day, a single moment, a single story. Beautiful.


**I'm not putting Scarface in here, I think its glorification undermines his other performances (feel free to disagree)***

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992, dir. by James Foley, Oscar nom)

Scent Of A Woman (1993, dir. by Martin Brest, Oscar win)

"Hoo-Ah!" This movie was interesting. I like the theme of innocent schoolboy vs. curmudgeonly old cynic, but the score, in my opinion, is too sentimental and weepy. The movie is great for one reason only: Pacino. His tone and cadence is what sets him apart. Chris O'Donnell holds his own, but Lt. Col. Frank Slade runs it. Not only playing a blind man, he plays a cynical, jaded, retired colonel with a penchant for women, cigars, "John Daniels" on the rocks, and .45's. It's very, very, different from Dog Day Afternoon or Serpico (or any of his 1970s films), where there were strong political and social undertones. The reason why he won an Oscar was because it was a simple movie, with few characters, and even fewer layers. It's all about him.
Favorite quote: "When in doubt, fuck."

Carlito's Way (1993, dir. by Brian De Palma)

Pacino stars as Carlito Brigante in a second installment of Brian De Palma-does-Latino drug lords-movie. I thought this was an excellent, sharp film, with an amazing(!) Sean Penn playing Carlito's lawyer, David Kleinfeld.  Pacino does it right, with those verbal inflections he's been known for the last 2 decades (where was that in the 70s? Did he pick it up after Scent of A Woman?). The movie is very slick, and he plays the drug-cartel-leader-gone-soft version of Tony Montana in New York, complete with voiceovers and narratives about how he's overcome his issues and is trying to run it straight. Rest assured that mindset gets derailed over the course of the 2.5 run time. Slick!

Favorite quote: "You think you're big time? You gonna fucking die-big time."

Heat (1995, dir. by Michael Mann)

Overall, Heat is a thrilling spectacle. Michael Mann does a great job of putting the incendiary dialogue and heart-pounding action into this film, with guns blowing off left and right, and murder, intrigue, and existential themes coating the lacquered surface of what appears to be any other 1990s action/drug/cop movie. Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro play two sides of the same coin, cop vs. thief, where the lines of good and evil start to blur. A great take on the duality of human nature, it plays with our perceptions of those who commit crimes and those who attempt to fight them. With twentieth century L.A. serving as the stage, portrayed as an isolating, overgrown, American city, it has its own identity crisis. Pacino is great (DeNiro also), but my heart is really with Michael Mann here, since he wrote and directed it. At almost 3 hours long, this movie is worth it.
Favorite quote: "Bon voyage, Motherfucker!"


I must also add his performance in the HBO miniseries 'Angels In America' (dir. by Mike Nichols) was phenomenal. He played Roy Cohn, a gay Jewish lawyer living with HIV in 1980s New York. Spectacular.


Scene from Dog Day Afternoon is below:

Director Spotlight: Luis Buñuel

Luis Buñuel was an amazing Spanish director who had a fine craft for surrealist film. In fact, you could even attribute the advent of surrealist film to him. Surrealist cinema's trademark is that it seeks to surprise, by creating strange objects & characters, illogical plotlines, bizarre costumes, freakish images, and above all, dream-like qualities, to shock and amuse the viewer. It was he, who, with his good friend Salvador Dalí, created the seminal and avant-garde film Un Chien Andalou in 1929. With a small budget, and nothing but images (sound was added later), they created a visual masterpiece. Set upon a story filled with imagery- death, love, dreams, bodies, man, woman- they depicted a world void of standards and conventional themes. They went on to collaborate on a second film, L'Age d'Or, with less success and critical acclaim.

Buñuel's career spanned half a century, and includes a mix of Spanish and French films. He directed some of foreign film's best-known movies [commentary for Nazarin, Viridiana, and La Voie Lactée coming soon].

In 1962 he started his collaboration with the famed French screenwriter, Jean-Claude Carrière, for Diary of a Chambermaid, starring Jeanne Moreau. Adapted from the Octave Mirbeau novel and filmed in gorgeous black-and-white, it focused on a bourgeois French family in the campagne. Scandal, lies, death and twisted characters abound, with Jeanne Moreau holding her own as a Parisian housekeeper who woos many men (including the devious Michel Piccoli) to get what she wants. My particular favorite was the patriarch, who, along with being bourgeois and snotty, happened to harbor a secret shoe fetish, and employs Moreau as a model for his shoe collection. In the backdrop lies the rise of French fascism in the 30s, which, in classic Buñuel fashion, is portrayed in a creepy, subversive way. This movie was the advent of the Buñuel-Carrière partnership that gave us 7 Buñuel masterpieces (3 of them I describe below).

One of his more popular films was the 1967 French film, Belle de Jour, that introduced the young Catherine Deneuve to stardom. The story is about a young Parisian housewife (full of ennui, not unlike a certain Flaubert character, Emma Bovary), and her entrance into a seedy, seclusive brothel. Aside from the fact that she was cloaked in the wonderful sartorial visions of Yves Saint Laurent, Deneuve shined as Buñuel's louche femme. Tragic interludes, somber moods and a stark portrait of love and life, this movie is as beautiful as Sévérine (Deneuve's character).

In the 1970s Buñuel and Carrière collaborated closely with the Spanish actor Fernando Rey. Together, all three made The Indiscreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and That Obscure Object of Desire. Buñuel & Carrière were nominated for Oscars, in best original screenplay and best adapted screenplay, respectively. These were beautifully made, full of satire & wit, all with a surrealist backdrop. In Indiscreet Charm, Fernando Rey plays an ambassador from a little-known (fake) Latin American country. He and his French bourgeois friends attempt to eat together for many meals, but get thwarted every time. Drugs, sex, scandals, and affairs mingle with imagery of war, death, religion, and, most importantly, dreams. Towards the end one isn't really sure if one is watching the visual representation of the characters' dreams, or a play. It's worth watching many times just to remember all the layered aspects to this film.

That Obscure Object has similar images, with fewer turns and less characters. Rey plays a rich businessman in Paris who falls in love with Conchita, played by two different actresses. One is a sexy, exotic, fiery girl, and the other, a reserved, quiet, and simple beauty. They appear back to back, from one scene to the next, as the same love interest. Ultimately the film focuses on the intangibility and inescapable death of love and passion. An interesting point to note is that Michel Piccoli, a frequent cast member of Buñuel's films, dubbed over the entire dialogue of Fernando Rey's character. (What strikes me as ironic is that Rey, who always spoke French with a Spanish accent, played the Frenchman in William Friedkin's The French Connection. He wasn't dubbed then, however...) This proved to be Buñuel's last and final film, and it was truly a masterpiece. In true Surrealism form, he wanted to burn all of his films upon his death. Thankfully for film admirers, they remain intact.



Scene from The Indiscreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is below:

Directors, a.k.a 'Cinéastes'

Netflix allows me to rent movies categorically, by director. By doing a simple search you can find all the movies available for rent by a certain director. The director is the visionary. They have a vision, they execute the story, inspire the actors, cut the film with the editors, and overall, create the film. They are the omnipresent figure in filmmaking process. Without them lies an amalgam of creativity, inspiration, and dreams- with no outlet. They are the conduit.

My favorite directors range from classic, film noir, to French new wave, to 90s crime and beyond. This list is non-exhaustive, but here are some of my top ranking directors.

American: Spielberg, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Tarantino, Scorsese, Woody Allen, William Wyler, William Friedkin, Michael Mann, Brian De Palma, Mike Nichols, Francis Ford Coppola, David Lynch, Sidney Lumet, Sydney Pollack, Paul Thomas Anderson, Coen Brothers, Jim Jarmusch, Curtis Hanson, Spike Jonze, Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, etc...

Canadian: David Cronenberg

European: Ingmar Bergman, Luis Bunuel, Milos Forman, Elia Kazan, Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Bernando Bertolucci, Michelangelo Antonioni, Fritz Lang, Werner Herzog, Michael Haneke

French: Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Melville, François Truffaut, Alain Resnais, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Demy, Jacques Tati, Claude Chabrol, Jean Cocteau, Louis Malle, François Ozon, Roger Vadim, Polanski, Luc Besson, Jacques Rivette, Michel Gondry

Asian: Kurosawa, Wong Kar-Wai