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Cloverfield [BLU-RAY] (Paramount Home Entertainment, 6.3.2008) Disguised under deliberately goofy, yet deliciously edible-sounding, aliases such as Cheese and Slusho, Matt Reeves' Cloverfield was produced and rushed into theaters under an equally appetizing shroud of secrecy. From last year's incredibly elusive Super Bowl ad to the film's viral marketing campaign, Cloverfield had everybody scratching their heads and drooling in anticipation. Aside from the as-yet untitled title and the Blair Witch-ian visual style, the film's biggest appeal was the enigmatic creature who was last (un)seen hurling the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty onto the crowded streets of New York City. All we knew about the mysterious beast was that it was big and angry. Now that the highy-anticipated project has come and gone, one question has fortunately been answered: Cloverfield was a major success. (continued)

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Antonioni is dead

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When I wrote my Ingmar Bergman obit yesterday morning, I called him "one of the four or five greatest film directors of the 20th Century." And now Michelangelo Antonioni, the director of such drop-dead classics as L'Avventura, Blow-Up, L'Eclisse, La Notte and The Passenger who also belonged to this select quartet or quintet, is dead also. He and Bergman passed the same day -- yesterday -- according to most news services. An old man dying is never a tragedy, but two guys of this stature going within hours of each other...whoa.

The shallow view of Antonioni's unquestioned genius period -- L'Avventura to Blow Up -- is that no one ever made better movies about the elite classes in the grip of exquisite nothingness. The longer, fuller view is that no one ever made better films about nothingness, period.

Very little happens in these and other almost-as-good Antonioni films (like Il Grido, Red Desert, Zabriskie Point)...but they're all inescapably haunting. A little voice tells you each and every time you're watching L'Eclisse or L'Avventura, "I can't precisely explain to myself what this film's about, but I know each and every frame is a bringer of some kind of fundamental, deep-down current...I can feel it in my soul."

In his landmark films of the early to mid '60s, Antonioni captured a certain spiritual ennui -- feelings, intimations and observations of profound emptiness, alienation...a drifting-away from meaning and tradition. He was capturing the beginnings of the modernist flu that was infecting the moneyed classes back then, and has since enveloped everyone everywhere (even the guys in Entourage), and he did so with such immaculate composition and clarity that you can watch these films today and come away stunned at their immediacy, altogetherness and absolute lack of anything resembling fat. They do not date.

Pop in the Blow-Up DVD and chapter-flip to the moment when David Hemmings, portraying a hip London photographer who simultaneously knows everything and nothing, is snapping pictures of that couple in that park in suburban London -- a younger woman and an older, well-dressed man, standing maybe 50 or 60 yards away. The thing that absolutely wows is the way a strong wind is rustling some nearby bushes and branches of trees, and how Antonioni somehow makes this primeval activity seem absolutely fraught with existential spookiness, and at the same time perfectly natural and innocuous.

James Toback once told me a story about a coarse-sounding distributor (he may have been a bigwig with a company called Brut Films, which financed Fingers) who referred to this visionary artist as "Tonioni." I've always laughed at this knowing there's a measure of implied respect when even the worst people know about a certain film artist. It doesn't matter if they get his or her name right; the fact that the brutes know him means everything.

The essence of Antonioni's visual style is a frequent use of "lengthy tracking shots of human figures against a barren natural landscape or a scene of urban sterility," a highbrow essayist once wrote. "He's a visionary of emotional alienation, so morbidly convinced of the apartness of people that he sometimes ends his film by photographing figures in a landscape. There's a feeling of social breakdown -- a profound unease under the surface of things -- permeating his work, but this is also accompanied (and this is the nub of his work) with a spellbinding visual grace."

N.Y. Times critic Stephen Holden once described the Antonioni vibe as "brooding metaphysical mood music."

In '05 I was obliged to teach three UCLA extension film classes as part of my deal to host Sneak Previews. So for one of the classes I decided to go loopy and show Antonioni's L'Eclisse (The Eclipse), an exquisitely composed black-and-white film about alienation and spiritual drainage among the aspiring classes in 1962 Rome.

I told the students this was a movie in which almost nothing happens, and that they may feel bored or frustrated by it initially. But I promised them they would never forget it, and that if they didn't stop being film buffs they would eventually understand its greatness, although probably, in most of their cases, not until they hit their 30s or 40s.

I acknowledged that it's essentially a movie about, in a manner of speaking, "nothing"...about a couple of attractive people (Monica Vitti, Alain Delon) eyeballing, toying and flirting with each other and having a bit of sex in the third act, but otherwise doing and saying relatively little, without anything resembling a story between them and certainly without any pronounced conflicts or resolutions.

But it has a certain seep-through effect. There's a torrent of small things in L'ecclise that stay with you -- dispirited looks, hints of eros and emotional voids, meditative moments, intimations of ennui and pointlessness. It doesn't "say" anything but there are echoes all through it.

I showed them L'Eclisse because I know it's one of the most sophisticated films of the 20th Century, and because the students would probably never see it on their own (it had recently come out on a spiffy new Criterion DVD) and because, as I said to them before showing it, no one in the commercial or semi-commercial realm is making films like this any more.

Critic and essayist David Thomson wrote the following a couple of years ago: "I can watch the world through Michelangelo Antonioni 's eyes forever. He is the greatest stylist of the modern era, and The Passenger may be my favorite film. It's the one I think of offering whenever people ask that question. And they ask a lot.

"No, it's not in my top ten, but sometimes I think The Passenger is the one I like the best, by which I fear I mean it's the film I'd most like to be in, instead of just watching.

"Dream-projecting ourselves into films we really like is what many -- most -- of us do, I think, when we're really taken by them. And when we're watching films that we respect or admire but aren't that into, that's all we're doing -- watching from our side of the window.

"Every time I've re-watched any of Antonioni's five or six greatest -- La Notte, Blow-Up , L'eclisse, Il Grido, L'Avventura -- I've felt this exact same urge to dissolve into a spectral cellluloid spirit, and disappear into the world of these films and wander around and maybe never come back. What would it be like to hang around in an Antonioni film after the movie is 'over'? Mesmerizing, I would think."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 31, 2007 at 08:15 AM

comment #1

cjKennedy says ...

This is a wonderful appreciation Mr. Wells.
Thank you.

Posted by cjKennedy at July 31, 2007 10:40 AM

comment #2

renorambler says ...

I was familiar with some of MA's work before but a couple of years ago when you wrote a piece on L'eclisse I ended up renting it and no matter what else you may write that I agree or disagree with I'll always be grateful for that recommend. It is abolutely stunning. Thanks and a hats off to one of the greats. He'll be missed.

Posted by renorambler at July 31, 2007 10:40 AM

comment #3

ben151 says ...

Whoa, lovely and persuasive meditation here.

Posted by ben151 at July 31, 2007 10:51 AM

comment #4

T. S. Idiot says ...

In the early 80s, I attended an appearance by MA at a Baton Rouge sidebar to the New Orleans International Film Festival. MA had agreed to discuss his work but responded to the interviewer's first question by saying that he did not discuss his work, that it speaks for itself. This went on for at least 45 minutes, with the interviewer desperately trying to get an increasingly irritated MA to say something, while two-thirds of the audience slowly drifted out. It was hilarious--just like an Antonioni film. MA was right, of course. Great artists owe the public nothing but their art.

Posted by T. S. Idiot at July 31, 2007 10:56 AM

comment #5

Ponderer says ...

Bravo, Jeff - a very fine and heartfelt eulogy. I'm definitely pulling out my copy of L'Avventura tonight.

Posted by Ponderer at July 31, 2007 10:56 AM

comment #6

dcc77 says ...

Thanks for your insightful encapsulation of Antonioni's remarkable career, Jeff.

The term "auteur" has been overused since Sarris coined it in the '60s but surely it's apt for this underappreciated director (in the US, at least) and altogether appropriate when applied to the consistency Antontioni's displays, formally and thematically, throughout nearly all of his films. When you watch "North by Northwest" you know, you feel, Hitchcock's masterly control -- his intellect and savvy permeate through every camera angle, line reading, choice of setting and every other decision a director must make AND heâ€™s relatively consistent from film to film, especially in his American period. The same holds true for Antonioni even though he never worked within the limiting (and thus freeing, paradoxically) confines of a particular genre.

But Antonioni was much better equipped than even a master like Hitchcock to engage in dialogue on philosophical matters such as the nature of perception (think of the mimes playing tennis at the conclusion of â€œBlow-Upâ€) or subvert genre parameters as he did with â€œLâ€™Avventuraâ€. Has there ever been a more ironically titled narrative film? A great artist has left us.

Posted by dcc77 at July 31, 2007 10:56 AM

comment #7

York "Budd" Durden says ...

I know I post a great deal of silly crap on this site, but I have to say that I was genuinely moved by this piece. I have been feeling terrible all day since I heard that MA had passed as well--yet another amazing artist I will mope around about all day and no one within rock-throwing distance will have even heard of him, or of his work. A shame.

Just to clarify from my Bergman post yesterday, I do work and live with oblivious (but attractive) young people, but in fairness they are neither industry types nor art film buffs, so I can't give them too much hell for their cinematic ignorance.

JW, what were the reactions of the students to L'Eclisse? I actually had someone yell at me one time after I recommended that one to them. They watched "some" of it as the person said--"as much as we could stand."

Posted by York "Budd" Durden at July 31, 2007 10:58 AM

comment #8

dcc77 says ...

Thanks for your insightful encapsulation of Antonioni's remarkable career, Jeff.

The term "auteur" has been overused since Sarris coined it in the '60s but surely it's apt for this underappreciated director (in the US, at least) and altogether appropriate when applied to the consistency Antontioni's displays, formally and thematically, throughout nearly all of his films. When you watch North by Northwest you know, you feel, Hitchcock's masterly control -- his intellect and savvy permeate through every camera angle, line reading, choice of setting and every other decision a director must make AND he’s relatively consistent from film to film, especially in his American period. The same holds true for Antonioni even though he never worked within the limiting (and thus freeing, paradoxically) confines of a particular genre.

But Antonioni was much better equipped than even a master like Hitchcock to engage in dialogue on philosophical matters such as the nature of perception -- think of the mimes playing tennis at the conclusion of Blow-Up -- or subvert genre parameters as he did with L’Avventura. Has there ever been a more ironically titled narrative film? A great artist has left us.

Posted by dcc77 at July 31, 2007 10:59 AM

comment #9

dcc77 says ...

Apologies to the community for the double post.

Posted by dcc77 at July 31, 2007 11:01 AM

comment #10

Rich S. says ...

I was wondering why it was taking Jeffrey so long to acknowledge MA's passing, but now I see it was because he was carefully composing his thoughts. It was well worth the wait; thanks, Jeffrey and well done.

Posted by Rich S. at July 31, 2007 11:11 AM

comment #11

christian says ...

very nice appreciation, jeff. that's how you write about film.

i taught a college class on groundbreaking 60's films and included BLOW UP of course.

i knew half the 120 plus class would hate it or be puzzled and the other half would be interested or mesmerized. i pointed out that this is what college kids flocked to in the 60's. sure enough, half the class was tortured, the other half enthralled. a good ratio.

now where the hell is ZABRISKIE POINT on dvd?

Posted by christian at July 31, 2007 11:17 AM

comment #12

nola says ...

Great tribute. Beautiful.

I know both men lived a long time but I feel like it's the end of an era.

Posted by nola at July 31, 2007 11:18 AM

comment #13

UncleJuicy says ...

Just a beautiful piece of writing. Thank you.

Posted by UncleJuicy at July 31, 2007 11:18 AM

comment #14

Wrecktum says ...

Excellent piece. CLearly Wells in a big fan.

I find Antonioni's work maddening, but his haunting images are nevertheless burned into my brain. I can't begin to tell you what L'Avventura is about (existential ennui is a meaningless expression, in my opinion) but Monica Vitti's sad,lonely face still hits me a decade after I watched the film.

Posted by Wrecktum at July 31, 2007 11:46 AM

comment #15

berg says ...

I've been waiting all my life to see a print of ZABRISKIE POINT in a movie theater ...

Posted by berg at July 31, 2007 12:13 PM

comment #16

Thrudvangar says ...

The infamous rule-of-four.

Or does one not count?

Posted by Thrudvangar at July 31, 2007 12:32 PM

comment #17

T. S. Idiot says ...

While the sophisticated level of comments here about Antonioni, Bergman, and the High Noon/Rio Bravo debate gladdens my little heart, matters are not so insightful in the mainstream media:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07312007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/death__the_director_opedcolumnists_john_podhoretz.htm

Posted by T. S. Idiot at July 31, 2007 12:32 PM

comment #18

MarkVH says ...

I knew Wells would come through with an appropriate Antonioni obit, but you've really outdone yourself on this one. Truth be told, I've seen more Antonioni than I have Bergman, and as a result this particular death hit me slightly harder - even at the ripe young age of 26, I feel like I "get" him. L'aaventura and L'eclisse are, in fact, two of the most beautiful, haunting and devastating movie experience I've had. I could watch them all day every day.

I have to feel like losing Bergman and Antonioni on the same day has to be some kind of cinematic equivalent to the fact that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the same day, right? The date doesn't have the same significance, obviously (July 4 for Adams/Jefferson), but the loss just seems that momentous.

Posted by MarkVH at July 31, 2007 12:37 PM

comment #19

christian says ...

"I've been waiting all my life to see a print of ZABRISKIE POINT in a movie theater ..."

if you leave in so cal, i've seen it twice on the big screen in the past two years.

the last time was at the egyptian and it was great that half the audience seemed confused or angered by the end. still my favorite antonioni.

Posted by christian at July 31, 2007 01:02 PM

comment #20

Wrecktum says ...

John Podhoretz's opinion of art and criticism is about as enlightening as his political views.

Posted by Wrecktum at July 31, 2007 01:18 PM

comment #21

T. Holly says ...

If you just read page one of John Podhoretz' oped, it's not that bad.

Posted by T. Holly at July 31, 2007 01:43 PM

comment #22

The Movie Man says ...

It's been said, but I would like to say it too, one of your very best pieces of writing Jeff, good work.

Posted by The Movie Man at July 31, 2007 04:34 PM

comment #23

D.Z. says ...

No disrespect to the guy's work, but I only saw his segment on "Eros", and it was awful. I'm hoping it was just age, and not him being lazy.

Posted by D.Z. at July 31, 2007 04:45 PM

comment #24

christian says ...

yes, his segment in EROS was clearly the lazy 90 year old antonioni phoning it in.

Posted by christian at July 31, 2007 05:06 PM

comment #25

jeffmcm says ...

DZ, I think you mean to say "Antonioni was a hack and his movies were ripoffs of Frank Lloyd Wright"

ALT VERSION: "ripoffs of Tati but not funny."

Posted by jeffmcm at July 31, 2007 08:49 PM

comment #26

cjKennedy says ...

DZ, did a little bell go off when you clicked "post" on that last comment? Did clowns and kazoo playing monkeys jump out of the closet and shower you with confetti? Did a midget in a top hat and tails appear and hand you a giant sized check for $1.98 and say "Congratulations, you've just said the dumbest thing ever uttered by a human being"?

If not, you were robbed because you've outdone even yourself.

Posted by cjKennedy at July 31, 2007 10:04 PM

comment #27

christian says ...

and if they didn't, allow me...

Posted by christian at July 31, 2007 10:08 PM

comment #28

scs says ...

bravo, one of the finest appreciations of Antonioni I've seen, and one of the finest, most heartfelt pieces of writing of yours I've read, was motivated to sign up just to say this

Posted by scs at July 31, 2007 10:39 PM

comment #29

scs says ...

bravo, one of the finest appreciations of Antonioni I've seen, and one of the finest, most heartfelt pieces of writing of yours I've read, was motivated to sign up to post on this site, just to say this

Posted by scs at July 31, 2007 10:40 PM

comment #30