August 9, 2004
I just saw Bertolucci's Last Tango In Paris and Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura -- wait, first of all, let me just say that I hate my car and it better not break down again for the next six months to a year; it's constantly obstructing my creative freedom. Okay, back to those two somewhat complimentary odes to emptiness. The greatness of Last Tango, for me, had little to do with the explictness and everything to do with Brando. It was also interesting to see what sort of story Bertolucci was interested in telling at the age of 32, with that mature but youthful anticipation (fear?) of growing older, as opposed to The Dreamers 34 years later, which now almost seems like a sequel (or prequel) to the earlier film; many of the shots and locations in the two films, not to mention themes, directly echo each other. It must be common for storytellers to get more optimistic as they get older; sometimes I wonder why I constantly write about such depressing subjects, and then I decide that I should enjoy it while it lasts.
L'Avventura captivated me for the first hour -- it reminded me at first of Weir's Picnic At Hanging Rock, which I love -- and then steadily left me colder and colder, as if it was trying to evade my grasp. After reading several reviews (including this one, found in the increasingly invaluable Great Movies series from Roger Ebert), I gather that this is an appropriate reaction, especially for a first viewing. It was also my first experience with an Antonioni film; putting a short end to my inexperience, Blow Up should be arriving tomorrow.
I've found many interesting things, aside from the obvious, in the new Filmmaker issue; it's the 25 New Faces Of Independent Film issue, and that's always a fun list to peruse. I think James and I made it a goal to be on it by 2003; oh well, add that to the list of goals we don't make. Yen will probably beat all of us to it (deservedly so). There's also a giant picture and short article on that crazy genius Takashi Miike, whose new film Gozu is described therein as "a surreal odyssey of repressed sexual desire that would leave even David Lynch awestruck." I'm sold, although I didn't exactly pick up on those themes from the trailer, which looks awesome anyway. I think it's already out in NY.
A goal I will make: finishing this screenplay by the end of the week.
Posted by David Lowery at August 9, 2004 7:13 PM
Comments
Goddamnit. Why do you always have to remember exact goals and dates expired for such. Let's just say it was a goal date of + or - two years.
Posted by: jmj at August 9, 2004 11:15 PM