Compared to much of Antonioni's other "documentary" footage, these five grabs are nice and short: maybe less than a minute of footage each, and very sweet, especially if you're a naturophile.
Mandorli is exquisite footage of white blossoms in bloom. Vulcano is helicopter shots of a volcano. Stromboli is helicopter shots of some kind of a mountain covered with coal/ash or some such. The piece de resistance, though, which is actually really wonderful - is Carnevale. Antonioni cuts to the same helicopter shot, but this time filming a sea of people. He really thought people were insignificant compared to nature! The italians really know how to do a parade, and it looks beautiful on film. A treat.
The way Antonioni does these "documentaries" is he films natural scenes and screens them with no commentary - so be prepared for that.
You can catch it in the short film program that screens with the Antonioni retrospective that's touring the world: it was at Venice in 2000 and its just been at Sydney in 2004, at the annual film festivals of both. When it comes to a festival near you, i don't recommend it as worth your while. See the features instead, especially Red Desert, Zabriskie Point, La Notte, L'Eclisse, along with the famous ones L'Avventura and Blowup.
Mandorli is exquisite footage of white blossoms in bloom. Vulcano is helicopter shots of a volcano. Stromboli is helicopter shots of some kind of a mountain covered with coal/ash or some such. The piece de resistance, though, which is actually really wonderful - is Carnevale. Antonioni cuts to the same helicopter shot, but this time filming a sea of people. He really thought people were insignificant compared to nature! The italians really know how to do a parade, and it looks beautiful on film. A treat.
The way Antonioni does these "documentaries" is he films natural scenes and screens them with no commentary - so be prepared for that.
You can catch it in the short film program that screens with the Antonioni retrospective that's touring the world: it was at Venice in 2000 and its just been at Sydney in 2004, at the annual film festivals of both. When it comes to a festival near you, i don't recommend it as worth your while. See the features instead, especially Red Desert, Zabriskie Point, La Notte, L'Eclisse, along with the famous ones L'Avventura and Blowup.
