Michelangelo Eye To Eye Italy
2004, 15min.
Script: Michelangelo Antonioni, Enrica Antonioni, Carlo Di Carlo, Dir./Prod. Design: Michelangelo Antonioni, Dir. of Phot.: Maurizio Dell'Orco, Sound: Paolo Segat, Edit.: Roberto Missiroli, Assist. Dir. Enrica Antonioni.
The film opens with a shot of a frail Antonioni emerging from the shadows as he walks in slow, awkward gait into an unpopulated hall where Michelangelo Buonarotti's marble statue of Moses - a scaled down version of an ambitiously conceived wall tomb for Pope Julius II - is once again on display after a period of meticulous restoration. Composed of a series of detailed observations of the sculpture's composition from several camera angles and vantage points, Antonioni continually refocuses to the shot of Moses' opaque gaze - an image that is sublimely matched by the filmmaker's own occluded, returned gaze as he examines the object of his attention through limpid, watery eyes. In addition to creating a thorough, meticulous, and deliberative objective study of the Renaissance sculpture's robust physical form and timeless, universal beauty, Antonioni's juxtaposition of his own weakened, aging frame against the larger-than-life sculpture of Moses creates an indelible, thoughtful, and poignant image on human frailty, transience, creative compromise, and the enduring legacy of - and mortal transcendence through - enlightened art.
Notes from the New York Film Festival.
Awards
FIPRESCI Prize (Valladolid IFF, 2004).
Production Companies
Istituto Luce
Lottomatica
| Antonioni, Michelangelo  Nationality: Italian. Born: Ferrara, Italy, 29 September 1912. Education: Studied at University of Bologna, 1931–35, and at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografica, Rome, 1940–41. Career: Journalist and bank teller, 1935–39; moved to Rome, 1939; film critic for Cinema (Rome) and others, 1940–49; assistant director on I due Foscari (Fulchignoni), 1942; wrote screenplays for Rossellini, Fellini, and others, 1942–52; directed first film, Gente del Po, 1943 (released 1947). Awards: Special Jury Prize, Cannes Festival, for L'avventura, 1960, and L'eclisse, 1962; FIPRESCI Award from Venice Festival, for Il deserto Rosso, 1964; Best Director Award, National Society of Film Critics, for Blow-Up, 1966; Palme d'Or, Cannes Festival, for Blow-Up, 1967; Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in Film, 1995. Died in Rome, Italy, 30 July, 2007.
|
