jürgen fauth’s muckworld

Granted, I came to this movie from a radically different angle from the crowd who first saw and booed it at the Cannes Film Festival in 1960, but in retrospect, it takes some effort to understand their confusion and upset. Yes, L’Avventura isn’t The Bourne Ultimatum, pacing and plotting are leisurely and oblique, but the film isn’t anywhere near as forbidding as contemporary audiences seemed to think or Camille Paglia recently suggested.

Far from being non-narrative or dull, L’Avventura is loaded with tension. The black and white cinematography is gorgeous and deliberate, and even on the surface, the mystery of Anna (Lea Massari), who disappears on a cruise to a volcanic island, is intriguing. The questionable relationship that develops between Anna’s caddish fiancé Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti) and her best friend Claudia (Monica Vitti) is ripe with complex undercurrents of desire, guilt, and despair. And if that’s not enough, you can ponder Antonioni’s masterful play with audience expectations, moral judgments, and narrative/cinematic conventions. If Paglia remembers L’Avventura as “plotless,” what does she make of Apichatpong Weerasethakul or Inland Empire?

L’avventura. Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960. *****

• Review by Gary Morris
• Cannes Statement by Michelangelo Antonioni
• Criterion Collection essay by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith
• Roger Ebert on L’Avventura
• An amusingly over-the-top trailer

The Tribeca Film Festival begins this week, but the sad truth is that six years into the fest’s history, I have yet to see a good movie there. Granted, we’ve taken off entire years in favor of Jazzfest, but there’s something about the glut of contradictory press releases, moved or canceled screenings, and red carpet premieres we somehow fail to get invited to that makes the metastasizing downtown affair rather unappealing. (And we don’t even have to worry about the $18 ticket price.) But we try, and that’s why last night, we found ourselves in a poorly ventilated theater by the Holland Tunnel to see a mediocre Italian historical comedy.

When Napoleon is exiled to Elba in 1814, a young teacher (Elio Germano) seething with hatred wants nothing more than to assassinate the conquering tyrant. He is hired as Napoleon’s secretary, but can’t muster the courage to do the deed–and instead, is charmed by his now humbled majesty. No wonder: Napoleon is played by Daniel Auteil. High-minded discussions of the art of war and the pain of remorse sit uncomfortably next to the kind of low humor often found in Miramaxy representations of quaint European towns. Away from Napoleon’s fortress, scenes of domestic comedy (”Easy with that dried codfish!”) work themselves into shrill histrionics that trigger unfortunate memories of Roberto Benigni. Moments later, questions of guilt and the expediency of human lives demand our earnest attention. Napoleon and Me is intermittently amusing, but the film can’t find its tone, theme, or center. With Monica Bellucci as full-bosomed Baronessa.

N (Io e Napoleone). Paolo Virzi, 2006. **

• Voice Tribeca Preview
• Nathan Lee on the TFF
• More from GreenCine
• The trailer for Napoleon and Me

It’s rare that a TV show ends before it has outstayed its welcome. Rome, which offered equal parts history, soap opera intrigue, gore, and soft porn, has run its course now, and the adventures of Vorenus and Pullo will be missed. The series covered the events of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’ Cleopatra — one half per season — and, with the ascent of Augustus, segues nicely into I, Claudius. The vibe of Rome, of course, was often more Caligula than Robert Graves. I’m sad it’s over. ****

Previously.

From Cleopatra, Liz Taylor’s arrival in Rome:

From Rome, Mark Antony’s arrival in Egypt:

From Caligula, Helen Mirren’s dance:

After December’s mad movie binge, we’re catching up with some TV. This HBO show, which carries the names of John Milius and Michael Apted in the credits and is shot in Cinecitta, improves vastly on the production values of I, Claudius, though not necessarily on acting and drama. It begins earlier–season one tells of Julius Caesar’s rise and fall from the Battle of Alesia to the Ides of March. Interwoven with the familiar tales of the powerful are the stories of two common legionnaires, which adds an element of surprise to recorded history. Blood flows freely, betrayal, lies, murder and literal backstabbing are as common as dirt, and there’s incest, too. Cleopatra (who doesn’t much resemble Liz Taylor) has only been in an episode or two so far, but I’m sure we’ll see more of the drug-addled conniver when season two starts on January 14. ***

[tags]tv, rome, hbo, 3 stars, history, italy, julius caesar, vercingetorix, cleopatra, michael apted, john milius, blood[/tags]

Not enough Kinski.

Per qualche dollaro in più. Sergio Leone, 1965. ***

[tags]sergio leone, klaus kinski, clint eastwood, film, 3 stars, italy, western, lee van cleef[/tags]

Presented in a restored print and hailed as a rediscovered masterpiece of black comedy, Alberto Lattuada’s 1962 Mafiosio tells the story of a Sicilian who returns to his village after having made good up north. Played by Alberto Sordi (The White Sheik, I Vitelloni), the poor man and his Milanese wife and children have to face many fish-out-of-water jokes involving Sicilian food, marital beds in the center of the living room, and hairy sisters, before his past catches up with him in the shape of the local Don. Despite the film’s winning tone and a fine comic performance by Sordi, I’ll confess to being underwhelmed by both the humor and the plot, which plays out just as expected.

Mafioso. Alberto Lattuada, 1962. **

[tags]film, 2 stars, italy, sicily, mafia, black comedy[/tags]