"Il Grido" at New Beverly

In the 1950s, Michelangelo Antonioni began to make features in the '50s "that considered film's capacity for visualizing interior states of mind," writes L.A. Weekly contributor Robert Koehler about Il grido, which screens tonight and tomorrow at L.A.'s New Beverly cinema.


"As a tale of factory worker Aldo (American actor Steve Cochran), who has a breakup with his longtime lover Irma (Alida Valli) and leaves home with his young daughter to get a new grasp on life, the film cunningly borrows many neorealist tropes and then rattles them until they splinter.

"Viewers may at first think they've stumbled into a Vittorio De Sica movie involving struggling laborers and their cute kids, but the odyssey here proceeds not toward a final enlightenment or insight, but outward through vast, limitless landscapes that Antonioni brilliantly conceives as physical correlatives for Cochran's state of mind."

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on October 10, 2007 at 2:09 PM

comment #1

Gabriel Author Profile Page says ...

I can't fucking wait. I plan on sticking around for "Zabriskie Point" again as well, which will hopefully be in 2.35 (unlike the video release I saw).

Posted by Gabriel Author Profile Page at October 10, 2007 2:48 PM

comment #2

christian Author Profile Page says ...

i will be there for ZABRISKIE POINT which i love.

Posted by christian Author Profile Page at October 10, 2007 2:53 PM

comment #3

T. Holly Author Profile Page says ...

Don't the neorealist primary colors, with pastel tones and black outlining, play really well against the description?

Posted by T. Holly Author Profile Page at October 10, 2007 3:32 PM

comment #4

T. S. Idiot Author Profile Page says ...

Il Grido is more accessible than most Antonioni. Cochran's mysterious death, on a yacht with three much younger women, would make a nifty movie.

Posted by T. S. Idiot Author Profile Page at October 10, 2007 3:42 PM

comment #5

le corbeau Author Profile Page says ...

Second weirdest fact about Steve Cochran I learned looking him up: he died mysteriously at sea, and his all-female passengers floated aimlessly with his corpse onboard for about 10 days before being rescued.

Weirdest fact: Morrissey is named for him.

Posted by le corbeau Author Profile Page at October 10, 2007 4:55 PM

comment #6

nemo Author Profile Page says ...

Steve Cochran: "The big secret in playing a gangster in movies is to really believe that the character you are playing is doing no wrong."

Posted by nemo Author Profile Page at October 10, 2007 5:13 PM

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