#12 – 20/4/2016

Michelangelo Antonioni, the director of Red Desert (Il deserto rosso, 1964), is well known as a director who treats his cinematic material incredibly well and cloaks it in a shroud of mystery, according to scholar David Forgac.

Forgacs, David, 2011, ‘Face, body, voice, movement: Antonioni and Actors [Excerpt]’ in Rhodes, John David (ed.) & Rascaroli, Laura (ed.), Antonioni : Centenary essays, Palgrave Macmillan, New York/Basingstoke, pp. 167-181.

https://equella.rmit.edu.au/rmit/file/630b528b-b534-44ce-8cec-59febbfbb453/1/160216_6_002.pdf

The reading speaks of Antonioni as a controlling and demeaning director who doesn’t really hold his actors in any sort of esteem, according to some statements. He was well known for withholding creative information from actors in order to get them to perform their jobs as accurately and by the book as possible, but this was a way for him to keep his actors fresh and ready for the next creative twist in his movies.

When compared to the movies that Antonioni created, it is easy to see why he held actors in this sort of esteem. Actors to him were mere building blocks to his greater vision.

I really respect this in a director. I like someone who is so self aware of their creativity that they will stop at no means to achieve what they set out to create. Whilst i’m sure Michelangelo Antonioni probably treated his actors fairly awfully, what he did for the greater cinematic community is pretty great. After watching Red Desert, it’s so painfully obvious how meticulate and observant he is at his craft. The shots and coverage are incredible, and he seems to excel at this with ease.

Directors like Antonioni are ones that I really look up to. I like people who are able to create a fresh new experience; a new way of viewing the world.