Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Michelangelo Antonioni and Ingmar Bergman

Two giants in the arts died on the same day. Both of these directors, the Italian Antonioni and the Swedish Bergman are considered two of the most influential artists of the 20th Century.

I was reading Hollywood-elsewhere.com and several of the comments said their co-workers said "I thought she was dead already".

I don't know why I'm surprised a Hollywood executive wouldn't know or care who Bergman is. After all it's not like he could blow stuff up like Michael Bay.

8 comments:

Giulia said...

I haven't a clue who either of those three people are! *blushes*

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

giulia - I linked to the New York Times articles on Antonioni and Bergman.

Michael Bay is the director of films like The Transformers, Bad Boys, The Rock, Bad Boys II, etc.

His films have basically, no plot, lots of action, things blowing up, edited very quickly with really loud music. Some critics and directors have said he helped cause the death of American filmmaking. LOL. I wouldn't go that far but after I saw Pearl Harbor (his movie with Ben Affleck) I was pissed. You can make all the stupid movies you want but that movie was wrong on so many levels.

Antonioni will be lying in state in Rome this Wendesday.

Roam2Rome said...

Hmmm... I could be wrong, but for the most part, aren't Hollywood executives focused mainly Hollywood directors? :)

In two weeks you leave for Toronto for three months? Wow...that's exciting! Aaah, so many people are leaving this month!

snif, snif... staying behind juuuust a little longer :)

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

roam to rome - the problem is the def. of a Hollywood movie is becoming more narrow. For example the Godfather would never be made today. The execs would say it was too small and there weren't enough stars in it (at the time DeNiro and Pacino were respected theatre actors not movie stars).

Also many of the top directors working in film are from other countries. Some do work on big Hollywood movies like Harry Potter but they are not of Hollywood.

People who work in the film business should know Antonioni and Bergman. It would be like working in publishing and not knowing who Faulkner or Shakespeare was.

Jen said...

That's so unbelieveably sad. We have an alternative high school here (not for kids who can't make it elsewhere, but one that has more creative classes, mentorships, etc.) and I was thinking of teaching a Bergman/Fellini/Almodovar class - not sure if I can do this, though, due to its being a public school and some of the films being pretty graphic.

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

jen - What grade are the kids? Maybe some of the films would be appropiate and accessible. The Criterion collection has a special DVD of Fellini's 81/2. They might enjoy the commentary about the themes of the movie, how it was made etc.

Wanderlust Scarlett said...

That's a rather disgusting revelation.
'I thought SHE died already?'

No idea. No knowledge of the talent, the history, the difference that his life made.

Thank God there are ladies like you out there. I wish there were a thousand of you ma'am.


Scarlett & V.

Jen said...

The kids would be high school aged - probably 11th and 12th grade. I really want to show Amarcord, but I'm not sure I can get away with the scene with the shopkeeper and the boy... but lol, it's that kind of thing that the kids would find hysterical and could probably relate to. I saw it at that age. We just censor everything now, though.