The Criterion Collection

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

Yes, absolutely top 10 material. For me, it now easily sits alongside Persona, Hiroshima, Mon Amour, and Antonioni's own L'avventura as one of the greatest films ever made.

L'Avventura is the only Antonioni that I've seen once. I plan on changing that soon. I still need to buy this poster.

[Scottie]

Antonioni is a legend of the cinema.

Much respect for him and his body of work. They are all phenomenal.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

This morning I decided to revisit Red Desert after having Antonioni stuck in my head since my Thursday night screening of L'avventura (which looks beautiful in 35 mm).

Red Desert was my introduction to Antonioni's work about ten months. At the time, I wasn't watching it because I wanted to explore what the director had to offer, but because it came with high recommendations from people whose tastes I typically trust. Without knowing what I was getting into with Antonioni, in terms of themes, pacing, "plot," etc., my judgement of the film was rather clouded and my initial reaction was fairly muted and unfair.

Since then, I've explored much more of Antonioni's body of work, spanning eight films from La signora senza camelie to Identificazione di una donna. With the understanding of who this director is and what he has to offer, my second viewing of Red Desert ended on a much more positive note. This film applies and builds upon the incredible techniques developed by Antonioni while developing his incredible trilogy that precedes this film. I've come to the conclusion that, of the eight works I've seen, Red Desert is far and away the greatest masterpiece (though not the only masterpiece) Antonioni has crafted, and, with this viewing, I believe that Antonioni has replaced Ingmar Bergman as my all time favorite director, even though the number of works I've seen by the latter is double that of the former.

Sorry if you read all that.

How ironic that they both died on the very same day!

[Clare2904]

I watched Red Desert too early in my film watching career to fully understand it. Maybe one day I'll around to a re-watch.

[pro-bassoonist]

L'Eclisse Blu-ray REVIEW



Pro-B

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

L'Eclisse Blu-ray REVIEW



Pro-B

Thank you!

You don't even know how badly I want this. I need to see it in HD.

[brandon_260]

Convinient that the review of L'eclisse was posted while this discussion is happening. I'm very much looking forward to the release. I like that the supplements are a little heftier than those on the Red Desert disc, but I would have liked another archival interview with Antonioni. I really like the one with Red Desert. Overall, the supplements on the Antonioni releases leave something to be desired when compared to many other releases from Criterion. Here's to hoping they do a huge overhaul when it comes to L'avventura (which does seem very likely).

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

L'Avventura is the only Antonioni that I've seen once. I plan on changing that soon. I still need to buy this poster.

Ugh, I want that so bad. I've been eying it forever, but can't bring myself to pull the trigger with the huge shipping cost to Canada on their posters. I should have thrown it in with my Flash Sale order to soften the blow.

[aes3728]

With all this talk of Antonioni I figured this would be a prime opportunity to ask an Antonioni related question.

I've only seen Blow Up of his. I want to get more exposure to his amazing work, but can't seem to find out where to begin. My initial thought was during a sale to get Red Desert on blu (as background I only really purchase Criterion blu no DVD) as that was the only one available at the time. Then rumors circulated of them putting out the Alienation Trilogy so I was going to wait on that. Then we got La Notte followed by L'Eclise. In the back of my mind I am waiting for L'Aventura to be upgraded to start at the beginning yet I find myself becoming impatient.

So forum- do I go after another one of his works on blu, and if so which? Or do I wait for L'Aventura?

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by aes3728

With all this talk of Antonioni I figured this would be a prime opportunity to ask an Antonioni related question.

I've only seen Blow Up of his. I want to get more exposure to his amazing work, but can't seem to find out where to begin. My initial thought was during a sale to get Red Desert on blu (as background I only really purchase Criterion blu no DVD) as that was the only one available at the time. Then rumors circulated of them putting out the Alienation Trilogy so I was going to wait on that. Then we got La Notte followed by L'Eclise. In the back of my mind I am waiting for L'Aventura to be upgraded to start at the beginning yet I find myself becoming impatient.

So forum- do I go after another one of his works on blu, and if so which? Or do I wait for L'Aventura?

For me, I would say L'avventura is the ideal place to start. After Red Desert, it was the next of his works that I watched and the one that I immediately fell in love with. That being said, you don't really need to watch La notte or L'eclisse afterwards, as the trilogy is linked through themes instead of characters. I personally watched them in order (all in one long, exhausting day) and found that, while I adore all three, they go from best to worst in order of release. Keeping this in mind, it might be worth saving L'avventura as some grand finale. Not to mention, if Hulu is an option for you, La notte, L'eclisse and Red Desert are all available for streaming (along with the vastly inferior Identification of a Woman).

Alternatively, if you're region free, Masters of Cinema have wonderful releases for The Girlfriends and The Lady Without Camelias, both of which predate L'avventura and may be worth watching before. I can't really comment on that, as both came after his 60s work for me, but they are still great films.

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

For me, I would say L'avventura is the ideal place to start. After Red Desert, it was the next of his works that I watched and the one that I immediately fell in love with. That being said, you don't really need to watch La notte or L'eclisse afterwards, as the trilogy is linked through themes instead of characters. I personally watched them in order (all in one long, exhausting day) and found that, while I adore all three, they go from best to worst in order of release. Keeping this in mind, it might be worth saving L'avventura as some grand finale. Not to mention, if Hulu is an option for you, La notte, L'eclisse and Red Desert are all available for streaming (along with the vastly inferior Identification of a Woman).

Alternatively, if you're region free, Masters of Cinema have wonderful releases for The Girlfriends and The Lady Without Camelias, both of which predate L'avventura and may be worth watching before. I can't really comment on that, as both came after his 60s work for me, but they are still great films.

I had been wondering the exact same thing. Nearly picked up The Girlfriends a couple of times.

[ravenus]

^Girlfriends is an entertaining film, a lot more drama and character oriented than his later more elliptical films. I loved it.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Didn't Pro-B say his review of Life Aquatic would "be up shortly" like a week ago? I know we have dvdbeavers screenshot comparisons but I personally take reviews here much more seriously.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

Didn't Pro-B say his review of Life Aquatic would "be up shortly" like a week ago?.

No worries, deepbreath The review is actually planned to come up later today, together with one for Queen Margot.

Have a great week.

Pro-B

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

No worries, deepbreath The review is actually planned to come up later today, together with one for Queen Margot.

Have a great week.

Pro-B

Excellent I enjoy your reviews. I look forward to it.

[Polaroid]

Zatoichi came :-)) £5 but had coupon so was free!!

How can anyone hate this release - the packaging is incredible! Can't wait to dive in and start the samurai genre!

Excited!!

Can understand why people are annoyed by the size and stuff but I love it and this is one of those releases that you can buy just for artwork in book and on casing lol

[ShellOilJunior]

Gordon Willis - RIP

[Clare2904]

I watched The Parallax View only last night as part of my online film club New Hollywood series.

RIP Mr Willis

[The Great Owl]

The screenshots for L'Eclisse look great, and I cannot wait for the release.

La Notte was one of my favorite Blu-ray releases of 2013, and that Blu-ray just keeps getting better. Even if L'Eclisse is a small step down in picture quality, I will likely get into the disc on my modest-sized TV in a big way.

My Antonioni collection so far consists of...

La Notte
Red Desert
Identification of a Woman

I used to have the Criterion DVD of L'Avventura, but I sold it a year ago in anticipation of the inevitable Blu-ray.

I need to branch out more, but I've simply been happy to buy the Criterion releases of the Antonioni films as they come down the pipes.

The 1980s synth-pop soundtrack of Identification of a Woman is perfect, just perfect.

[HBA]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Zatoichi came :-)) £5 but had coupon so was free!!

Lucky.. they won't ship mine

[blu-bry]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Zatoichi came :-)) £5 but had coupon so was free!!

How can anyone hate this release - the packaging is incredible! Can't wait to dive in and start the samurai genre!

Excited!!

Can understand why people are annoyed by the size and stuff but I love it and this is one of those releases that you can buy just for artwork in book and on casing lol

I just got through #13 of the set this past weekend. I'm having a great time working my way through. One word of warning though - don't eat while watching. Seeing Zatoichi eat in nearly every episode is barf inducing.

I hope you enjoy your set!