Peter's Film Viewing Journal (Il Grido)

An attempt to write my random and initial thoughts for every film (of note) that I see, especially retrospective selections I have viewed on the big screen, with little editing and lots of brevity and focusing on thoughts/reaction, not criticism; taking the tone of "notes to self".

Il Grido
1957
Directed By: Michelangelo Antonioni
Screened at BAM Rose Cinemas, Brooklyn NY, November 9 2009 (Not a great print)

What a joy this was to see finally. Neorealism, for sure, but with hints of what was to come in the oeuvre of this master. I have La Notte on again as I write this (which is probably sacrilege), I just wanted to see something a few films later, when he was right in his next period, to see the growth directly. Very interesting.

It was so strange to see so much music in an Antonioni film. But it was used so wonderfully. And it was very effective music. Although, sometimes a little "leading".

The lead performance by Steve Cochran was extraordinary.

Saw Le Amiche at MOMA a few weeks ago. That's the film he made right before this one. And it too had something else going on under the surface, but to a lesser degree. It's very interesting to see an actually progression toward a complex, subtle, subtext-style.

Watching his films is an ongoing process. Like TS Elliot said of Dante when a friend told Elliot that he had read the Divine Comedy, "You mean you have begun to read it".

Peter's Film Viewing Journal (The Touch)

An attempt to write my random and initial thoughts for every film (of note) that I see, especially retrospective selections I have viewed on the big screen, with little editing and lots of brevity and focusing on thoughts/reaction, not criticism; taking the tone of "notes to self".

The Touch
1971
Directed By: Ingmar Bergman
Screened at MOMA, November 8th 2009

I am not a big Bergman fan. In fact, I tried to watch Wild Strawberries a little bit ago and couldn't get far at all. Not really sure what bugs me about him. But MOMA has this Film Preservation program every year where they screen the films that have been lucky enough to get restored or preserved that year. One of these films this year was The Touch, Directed by Ingmar Bergman from 1971, not a very well know Bergman selection at all. It stars Elliot Gould, for Heaven's sake.

You can see why this one didn't really rise out of the' obscure' status. Another somber adultery premise, with Bibi Andersson as a seemingly happy mother and wife and Gould as an eccentric archeologist with whom she has a strange, intense affair.

There were a tremendous amount of annoying people around me at this screening. Two old women behind me kept clicking their tongue against their teeth at the screen to create the universal sound for disapproval or shame. The woman next to me kept talking to herself, "Wow." or "Why is she doing that?", so often it was alarming. If I had been captured by this film, I would've given these freaks a piece of my mind, but the fact is I was finding it hard to get into this one. The camera was doing a lot of wacky things. Strange zooms, quick pans. The editing was also erratic and almost experimental. Not so sure what Bergman's other films from this period are like, but this one was strange.

I was really there for what followed, an hour long doc on the making of The Touch called, simply Ingmar Bergman. This was really great because it showed the director at work in long takes and up close. You really got an idea of how this man worked. There is a nice sequence where he tries to explain to Andersson why the pants that she is wearing are not going to work for the scene. It goes on in real time for, like 10 minutes. Maybe this would be boring to someone else, but it was fascinating to me. I can watch a great director at work for hours and hours. So it was very interesting to see an up close making-of doc right after seeing the film. On the way out a stranger just said to me out of the blue, "It feels like just worked on this movie for months, doesn't it?" I agreed.

-Peter Rinaldi

Peter's Film Viewing Journal (Metropolis)

I'd like to try to write my random and initial thoughts for every film (of note) that I see starting today, especially retrospective selections I have viewed on the big screen, with little editing and lots of brevity and focusing on thoughts/reaction, not criticism; taking the tone of "notes to self".

Metropolis
Dir. Fritz Lang
1927
Screened at MOMA on November 4 2009

I am embarrassed to say that I had never seen this legendary silent film. I am not sure why. But I jumped at the chance to see it on the big screen. Unfortunately I found myself extremely fatigued suddenly right before the film was to begin. So much so that I actually closed my eyes and dosed off. I don't recall ever doing that in a theater.

So needless to say, I was struggling to stay awake during the beginning of the film. But I soon regained control of myself. I was a little surprised about this film. I was expecting, having heard so much about it over the years, to be constantly bombarded with expressionistic and futuristic sets and designs. This wasn't so. It was very much seeped in a "silent drama" essence.

Lang is an amazing filmmaker. There is no way you can approach his stuff, considering the time period, and not leave in awe. But, just like with his Mabuse, The Gambler film, I really found it hard to follow a lot of the time. Could this be because I was half awake? Maybe.


I really responded to the expressionist moments in the film, and not so much the futuristic aspects. That was surprising. But the bottom line is I need to see this classic again, with some energy.

-Peter Rinaldi

October 2, 2007

SIN-E-FILE (Remodernist Film)

I have the sin of the cinephile - Jean Luc Godard

I am very honored to have a short essay in the new MungBeing Magazine (a wonderful online publication) about my good friend Jesse Richard's Remodernist Film Manifesto.

The Remodernist Film Movement calls for a new spiritually in cinema. If interested, I suggest you read Jesse's Remodernist Film Primer, the Manifesto, THEN, my essay.

-Peter Rinaldi

Bedbugs XCIII

Bedbugs XCIII


Click here for an explanation of how Bedbugs is created.

Click here for the previous Bedbugs.



After a long blackout I am awake. I am here,
I am present. Many have been lost
and abandoned and burned out and never returned
to help. Ideas, or friends? Gather both
and lost in the tunnel is where I often
am found, reported, measuring what makes a man
has become a full time job. How to stop
wasting time? Concentrating on it is needed
to be discarded and slain, not mastered.
I remember our first date. I remember our
third anniversary of the day you left. Do you
hear music? No, I hear panic. Both
are familiar. Tell them both before you leave
and then succeed by being manchildren
behind a good man's back. Anxiety
growing as things darken. Someone has started
a new song. Can you help me with any
dilemma? Here's the thing. Nobody owes
you shit. And with that, you are free to make
your own road. And you can truly make it.
That red streak in your hair is beautiful.
Finish line is in sight.



Next week's seven phrases/groups of words:


-Nobody can stop it, I'm told
-where's my cut of the income
-a force to behold on stage
-we have the proper image now
-overcast inside, twice
-exorcise what's ailing you
-very soon now, it ends


-Adam

Six Word Theater

Click here for the previous entry.

Inspired by the challenge of telling a story in six words,
I attempt to polish my skills by writing a six-word
story or phrase whenever I can.

Feel free to "continue the story" or start your own
in the comments.

Today's entry:



Found love; lost the instruction manual.



-A.B.