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".