[Tall Guy]

I like Deadpool films, okay? And Bond films, superheroes and gialli, and even enjoy the Carry On series. But I also like Fellini and Pasolini, Bergman and Leos Carax, Petri and Melville. But until a couple of years ago I’d never even seen an Antonioni film.

Then, whilst staying with family in Greenwich, I saw Blow Up in a shop window on DVD for £6. Nothing to lose, I thought, after realising that it wasn’t the one with John Travolta. Thus began my love affair with Antonioni. On first viewing, I was a bit confused. Why are those photos different from Hemmings’s actual point of view? What’s with the “dumb” tennis?

Then it all clicked when I realised that this fellow isn’t like other filmmakers.

And I bought L’Eclisse, L’Avventura, La Notte, The Red Desert, The Passenger and maybe my favourite, Identification of a Woman. Each of them deserves a separate volume of analysis, and I’m sure that even after two or three viewings of each, I haven’t scratched the surface. I’m not sure how he chose his various composers, but imagine that he familiarised himself with their talents and chose whichever he thought best suited to the film in hand. Generally the music is pretty sparse, and has to be considered as just one element of the total soundscape, which he seems to have managed as carefully as his camera angles. I’d need further viewings to get a grip on his use of music, but I have to be in the mood to watch one of his films because of the investment in time and concentration needed, which I don’t always have.

When I do, however, I really, really love them.