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To get things going, have anyone seen his most recent 1995 film BEYOND THE CLOUDS (co-directed by Wim Wenders)? What about the score in that? I know that U2 did a lot in it, but was it all original material?
I've seen the film and quite like it, though its a bit misogynistic in parts. Two pieces from U2 were used. Both came from pre-recorded material that the band had produced with Brian Eno under the pseudonym 'Passengers'. They contrbuted the song 'Your Blue Room' to the final crane shot and end credits, as well as the piece 'Beach Sequence' (Bono playing piano) to the scene where Malkovitch looks at a photo while sitting in a swing at the beach.
The film also features at least two instrumental versions of Van Morrison songs for piano and small ensemble. (Heard notably during the Malkovitch-Marceau segment.) There's plenty of music from other sources too, but I can't remember what it is.
The Passengers album Original Soundtracks 1 contains both U2 contributions, as well as the song they contributed to Heat ('Always Forever Now'), Miss Sarajevo ('Miss Sarajevo') and Ghost in the Shell ('Ito Okashi' is its name I think - track 9 in any case). The liner notes of this CD also list many other films which the piece appeared in, but don't be too surprised that you haven't heard any of them - they don't exist. Anagrams abound!
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Posted: |
Oct 31, 2005 - 12:47 PM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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I just saw Antonioni's latest film, the 2004 EROS. Well, to be fair, he only directed the last part, "Il filo pericoloso delle cose" ("The Dangerous Thread of Things"), while Wong Kar Wai and Steven Soderbergh directed the first two (at age 90+, Antonioni didn't feel fit to direct an entire feature film alone). All in all, three different approaches to the topic of eroticism and love.
All three films were fairly slow-moving with interesting visual details. Kar Wai's film was probably the most sensous, Soderberg's the most narratively complex and Antonioni's the most intellectually stimulating (with some trademark pans and dolly shots that were absolutely FANTASTIC).
There was soft music throughout, especially in the love scenes, but nothing that really stood out (except in the animated sequences between the segments).
Anyone seen it?
NP: FINAL FANTASY (Goldenthal)
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Posted: |
Oct 31, 2005 - 2:33 PM
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By: |
musickco
(Member)
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The EMI CD of Blow-up contains two additional tracks over the Rhino issue (I think, unless in this case Rhino used the EMI master). I wrote 3000 words on Blow-up for the CD booklet - but in the end EMI decided to go with a fold-out poster rather than a proper booklet and ditched my notes - except for the section which highlights the two (unusued) pop tracks the EMI boys had discovered in their vaults (I mean, never mind having notes on the movie - let's just credit the finding of those two songs by the EMI sleuths!)
Here's the bumph:
"Hancock's brilliantly eclectic, wonderfully funky score fits the film like an Armani jacket. Antonioni was sensitive to the current musical scene and aware that significant changes were taking place in rock and pop; this he would highlight in the film's club and party sequences. He originally hoped to entice The Velvet Underground from New York to be in Blow-up, but following difficulties with work permits Antonioni settled on two songs by Tomorrow - that were duly commissioned and recorded. Even this was not to be; in the final print it is The Yardbirds who appear, although ironically, in the final party scene the mock guitar wildly wielded by Jeff Beck is actually a replica of Steve Howe's instrument! But here, thirty years on, and for the first time on the Blow-up album, are the two songs Antonioni commissioned from Tomorrow. It seems Blow-up, and its music, have stood the test of time. The potency of the Sixties has survived. This may be the Nineties - but Retro is the word."
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I wrote 3000 words on Blow-up for the CD booklet - but in the end EMI decided to go with a fold-out poster rather than a proper booklet and ditched my notes - except for the section which highlights the two (unusued) pop tracks the EMI boys had discovered in their vaults
@musickco
I'm very curious about those notes, would you be so kind and drop me line (see my profile). Many thanks!
BTW, Blow-Up is one of my first soundtack CD I ever bought, back then only available on the CBS Hollywood Collection, replaced it only recently with the expanded one by Rhino.
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Kar Wai's film was probably the most sensous, Soderberg's the most narratively complex and Antonioni's the most intellectually stimulating (with some trademark pans and dolly shots that were absolutely FANTASTIC).
Today obviously isn't the the day, but one day I wouldn't mind getting to the bottom of how Antonioni's contribution to EROS - 'The Dangerous Thread of Things' - could stimulate thoughts beyond criticism. BEYOND THE CLOUDS at least had great actors to dress up the scenarios... but this film hasn't even got that.
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The EMI CD of Blow-up contains two additional tracks over the Rhino issue (I think, unless in this case Rhino used the EMI master). I wrote 3000 words on Blow-up for the CD booklet - but in the end EMI decided to go with a fold-out poster rather than a proper booklet and ditched my notes - except for the section which highlights the two (unusued) pop tracks the EMI boys had discovered in their vaults (I mean, never mind having notes on the movie - let's just credit the finding of those two songs by the EMI sleuths!)
Here's the bumph:
"Hancock's brilliantly eclectic, wonderfully funky score fits the film like an Armani jacket. Antonioni was sensitive to the current musical scene and aware that significant changes were taking place in rock and pop; this he would highlight in the film's club and party sequences. He originally hoped to entice The Velvet Underground from New York to be in Blow-up, but following difficulties with work permits Antonioni settled on two songs by Tomorrow - that were duly commissioned and recorded. Even this was not to be; in the final print it is The Yardbirds who appear, although ironically, in the final party scene the mock guitar wildly wielded by Jeff Beck is actually a replica of Steve Howe's instrument! But here, thirty years on, and for the first time on the Blow-up album, are the two songs Antonioni commissioned from Tomorrow. It seems Blow-up, and its music, have stood the test of time. The potency of the Sixties has survived. This may be the Nineties - but Retro is the word."
dIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE TWO SONGS from a group called Tommorrow. I don't know their work.
BTW It was THE WHO who were supposed to do the club scene. That is why THE YARDBIRDS are depicted smashing their equipment- a WHO trademark!
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I think 'Blow-up' is THE film about style versus content, because it has both, but it puts the searchlight on a whole generation's obsession with style OVER content. To me, the only way the film makes sense is to see it as a big allegory, with the 'dead' man, who may or may not have existed, as 'God' or the 'father' ... everybody in the 60s knows something is dead, but they aren't sure if it ever existed, or who killed it. That WAS the 60s in some ways. The 'dawn' tennis-game without balls is 60s life, a game without a 'Maguffin' (ball) or belief to play with. So it's pretty pessimistic, and the only 'hope' is Hemmings' curiosity as a photographer.
The problem is, the Hemmings lifestyle, the car, the bachelor pad, the girls etc. although represented as aimless, actually obscures for many any message the flick has. So style overcomes content. Mind you, Hemming's 'cool' is the one and only very independent quality that may save the day ... except it doesn't. He never finds out. Not like 'Zabrisky Point'.
So my question to Thor as one examining the film academically and stylistically would be whether in this case style has not overwhelmed the message to the extent that people don't 'get' it at all, if they aren't in the mindset to want to read it. Has he really communicated what he wants? Many rave about the film, and rightly so, but more as a sort of nostalgic celebration of the 60s than as an essay about nihilism which is what it really is.
(It's funny how little 'rejected' things like wind blowing through leaves in a park as in the movie, somehow evoke a feel of a place and time in a way that, say, some 60s iconic rock-concert just wouldn't.)
Again, musically if he'd used 'Velvet Underground' or the like, would that have been because he LIKED them as prophets and commentators, or because he thought them part of the negative society he's criticizing?
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The last shot of Hemmings, where his smile turns to downcast, is one of the most haunting images of the Sixties!
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Posted: |
Aug 4, 2007 - 2:12 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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So my question to Thor as one examining the film academically and stylistically would be whether in this case style has not overwhelmed the message to the extent that people don't 'get' it at all, if they aren't in the mindset to want to read it. Has he really communicated what he wants? Many rave about the film, and rightly so, but more as a sort of nostalgic celebration of the 60s than as an essay about nihilism which is what it really is.
Well, William, you're free to make your own interpretation, but you should know that Antonioni was never a political director per se, even though political values can be read into several of his films. Neither was he that occupied with capturing a Zeitgeist of any kind (like "swinging 60's" in this film). He has said as much himself. He was a PSYCHOANALYTICAL and SOCIO-ANTHROPOLOGICAL director, if anything.
The construction (or deconstruction) of identity was one of the major trademark themes of his films, BLOW UP being one of the best examples. What is real? What is fiction? If this is not real, then am I real? Much of the plot in BLOW UP hinges on the socalled murder or corpse that Hemmings thinks he sees in the park. Details in the picture during development further cements his suspicion, but in the end - upon visiting the "crime scene" - he may realize it's a figment of his imagination. That's where the final tennis match comes in. The mimes seem to play tennis without sound (obviously), but when the camera turns to Hemmings, sound is added, thereby making him the "constructor" of his own world.
It is Antonioni's use of socalled "arch-sounds" (like the winds blowing through the leafs and THAT'S IT) and his spare use of music, in particular, that create these moods of ambivalence and gives the spectator a chance to reflect.
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Posted: |
Nov 29, 2024 - 6:01 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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Someone mentioned Giovanni Fusco in a thread lately, and my thoughts went to this old thread of mine. Antonioni is my third favourite director of all time, and I've spent a great deal of time pouring over his work. In 2020, I was the editor of a Norwegian magazine issue about "places and cinema", wherein I had a loooong walkthrough of Antonioni's entire career:
And I've tried my best to create threads about his films and scores over the years:
Cronaca di un Amore: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=65541&forumID=1&archive=0
I Vinti: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=65695&forumID=1&archive=0
La Signora Senza Camelie: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=65612&forumID=1&archive=0
Le Amiche: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=77391&forumID=1&archive=0
Il Grido: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=65755&forumID=1&archive=0
L'Avventura: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=65839&forumID=1&archive=0
La Notte: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=65867&forumID=1&archive=0
L'Eclisse: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=65930&forumID=1&archive=0
Il Deserto Rosso: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=66050&forumID=1&archive=0
Blow-Up: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=2909&forumID=1&archive=1
Identificazione di una Donna: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=68701&forumID=1&archive=0
Threads created by others:
Zabriskie Point: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=99790&forumID=1&archive=0
Professione Reporter: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=120675&forumID=7&archive=0
No threads on CHUNG KUO yet. There’s very little noteworthy score in it. I KNOW I did a thread on PROFESSIONE: REPORTER, my favourite Antonioni, but I can’t find it, not under THE PASSENGER either. So I put in Gordon Reeve's thread above instead. Also missing threads on IL MISTERO DI OBERWALD, ALL DI LÀ DELLE NUVOLE and all the short films. Seen them all, so should remedy that one day, even if original scores are sparse in many of them.
Also:
His RIP thread: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=43917&forumID=7&archive=0
A "favourites" thread: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=96748&forumID=7&archive=0
A thread on the Fusco/Antonioni set: https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=109948&forumID=1&archive=0
Anyways, I have no other reason to bump this other than to organize the FSM Antonioni archives a bit, for my and others' reference.
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It's my opinion that Antonioni is just underneath Kubrick in a listing of directors in the anti-Film Music Hall of Shame.
The only truly wonderful score in a Kubrick film owes NOTHING to Kubrick since it was Kirk Douglas who controlled the film -- "Spartacus."
Kubrick gets zero credit for a score that was a total dream for a startlingly great film.
Agreed Ron! Kubrick was a great film maker, but his use of music was often dreadful.
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