L'Aventura

 Often seen as a seminal film of the 1960s, it isn't.  But L'Aventura is a seminal film of the 1950s, and very far ahead of its time.  The story centers around the disappearance of a young woman who is on a day excursion to a volcanic island in the Aeolian chain north of Sicily.  Her companions remain behind to search for her, while the main party goes to summon aid from the coast guard.  A major search of the island turns up nothing.  What happened to the woman?  Several hints are dropped, and it seems as if she left the island on a fishing boat, or perhaps with a group of smugglers.  Her description is given out and a few sightings are reported.  But she never turns up again.  The missing woman, Anna, is with her fiancee Sandro, and her best friend Claudia (played by the incomparable Monica Vitti).  Why would she choose to disappear?

 

Well, a few moments spent with her miserable fiancee will reveal enough reason.  He is a louse, first class.  Anna no longer wants to marry him (failure to communicate), and I think has chosen to escape him completely.  But there is reason to think that after leaving the island with whomever, misadventure soon followed her.  The first half of the movie is completely engrossing, especially once Anna goes missing.  The second half kind of fades away to nothing, gradually, until it ends in a relationship trap for Claudia.  No more than two days after his fiancee goes missing, he is putting moves on Claudia, her best friend.  One of the lowest points of the film is when she takes a train and tries to leave him behind, but at the last second he runs and catches the back car.  He is literally the character who spills black ink all over this picture (from a later scene where he deliberately destroys an art student's meticulous drawing).

 

It's kind of difficult for viewers to swallow that Claudia does not already have a boyfriend or lover as the picture opens, and even harder to swallow that she would fall in love with creepy Sandro.  Or that she would stay with him at the end, after he cheated on her already.  It seems Anna had much more sense by leaving him.  The story becomes distracting, even as they continue to search for Anna throughout Italy.  There are a few very disturbing scenes that show the Italian male to be no better than a wolf in heat, and Sandro certainly lives up to that reputation.  Is he the best that Claudia can attain?  Hardly.   But as Antonioni obviously knew, good men are hard to come by.  Claudia, weakened by the loss of her best friend, is vulnerable.  And so she loses, big time, like several of the wives we have already encountered in the film.

 

This film came out the same year as Fellini's La Dolce Vita, and three years before Goddard's Contempt.  The photography and sound in the present film are unparalleled for its time.  The sound of wind, thunder, rain, the sea, and leaves blowing in trees are matched beautifully by the very sparse music, often just a solo clarinet.   Even the 2nd half, which brings us down and more down in spirit as it goes on, has many moments of sheer poetry.  But the best reason to watch is Monica Vitti.  She has a face that was made for motion picture cameras, with a range of expression that can change slowly from one emotion to another, or instantaneously, as need be.  Watching her face is the best possible reason to watch this film.  It comes in tied for 72nd place in the latest Sight and Sound poll.

 

Showing on Criterion. 

 

Sunday was Full Moon celebration.  We hadn't chosen an opera for a few months now, so it was time.  Out came Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, running four hours on ten record sides.  We made it through, though!  It was a humid and rainy day, and we needed a break from our flooring project in the music room.  A blueberry cake-like thing was baked, we substituted Wagner for Bach during our pancake breakfast, and we spent much of the day listening.  We have the Berlin Philharmonic version with Karajan conducting, and Jon Vickers as Tristan.  A great performance overall, but the orchestra often overpowers the singers.  Probably the most famous ending of any opera ever written.

Warm and very humid lately, with a fair amount of rain landing in our yard.  Grass cutting tomorrow.  Hopefully Detroit on Thursday, for a visit to John King Books, and perhaps a walk downtown.  Ciao, baby.

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

August Doings

 August is a slightly strange month.  It's like July, but not quite the same.  Right now the sun is racing south towards Equinox, and then onward to Winter Solstice.  Nights are growing darker earlier.  The angle of the sun is now about the same as it was on April 23rd.  But what a difference.  I often wonder if Nature gets a bit sick of the seasons as they start to wind down.  Enough with the heat and humidity, already, it might say.  Let's get some cooler nights, and less intense sunlight during the day.  As a kid, August was the time of the dreaded back-to-school sales in stores, with TV ads hyping the coming end to holidays.  It was a last chance to do fun activities all over again, and then some, before returning to the classroom.  Of course teachers feel the same way as kids, so I had many extra years of August Angst.  A lifetime of it, in fact.  Not so much these days, with not even a single private student coming my way in September.

July was warm and wet, but not unduly warm.  We had 14 days when the temp reached 30 C or above, topping out (several times) at 33 C.  So not too bad.  The Homestead rain gauge received 8" of rain, which is adequate, but 5" of that came over one weekend.  Areas around us got much, much more.  It was enough to keep the mosquitoes extremely annoying this summer.  We are now into another hot and humid time period, with smoky skies added in from fires in north west Ontario, as well as B.C., California, et al.  We don't get the smoky smell, as the smoke is very high, but it messes up the skies, likely keeping our temperatures a bit lower than they should be.  It seemed a good summer to take a pass on astronomy.  Too many bugs, and the front of the car collects them by the thousands during a night drive.  Too wet, and too smoky, too.  Hopefully things will resume in September.

Last Thursday I had my fourth and final piano lesson in a series from Philip A.  He actually came out to the Homestead to teach me, and stayed for a great lunch prepared by master chef Deborah.  We have now managed to cover all of my upcoming recital repertoire.  In about two weeks or less I should be able to pin a date down for the commencement of recitals, one or two guests hearing it at a time.  I still have lots of details to work on, thanks to Philip's ultra keen ear, vast piano experience, and his manner of explaining exactly what needs to be done to improve the pieces.  So I have been motivated to practice for four weeks now, and this should continue until concert time.

In movie news, I have two picks to report on.  My regular choice for last week was L'Eclisse, the 3rd film in a loose trilogy by Antonioni.  It contains some brilliant work by Monica Vitti and Alain Delon, and some of the most alienating outdoor landscape scenes ever filmed.  Rome never looked more like a city from another planet.  I love the director's black and white work, and will continue to views these movies again and again.  There is one particular shot at the very end of the film that I especially like; a deserted street corner at night with a building, a tree, and a street light, that just seems to capture the essence of the entire film.

Now streaming on Criterion.  From 1962.

My going away August 31st selection was Fassbinder's English film, Despair, based on a novel by Nabokov.  I panicked when I first saw it on the list, since i still have a long way to go to see all the films by the director showing on Criterion.  I thought they were going to take them all off.  but so far, this is the only one, so I grabbed it first.  Dirk Bogarde puts on a slight German accent, playing the role of the CEO of a chocolate candy factory that is seeing its sales slumping in 1930 Berlin.  He takes out a life insurance policy, comes up with a silly plan to make it appear he has been murdered, and then have his wife collect the policy money and meet him in Switzerland.  The film is quite funny, obviously using many of Nabokov's lines, but overall is tragically so.  Fassbinder is not Antonioni, but I like his work.  This is one of his least difficult films to view, though it has avant garde theatrical moments galore.

Leaving Criterion August 31st. 

Mapman Mike

 

Weather Day Similies

Today is a "camp" day, or "Lake Penage" day.  It is mild, rainy, and very grey.  We happily survived many such summer days at our camp on the lake west of Sudbury.  We built the camp when I was ten, and I spent all my summers there, including the first several years Deb and I were teaching school in far away Southern Ontario.  Indoor activities were limited in those days.  Later there was TV, but before that there were playing cards, and bad board games.  Of course reading and writing were popular with us, as was sitting on the screened porch and looking out at the lake and distant La Cloche Mountains as the all day rain came down.  So today, watching the rain out our front windows, I am think about camp a lot (it was sold by my father many years ago).

The previous two days here at the Homestead were sunny, very dry, low humidity, and cool (low 70s F).  These I refer to as New Mexico "high altitude" days.  The weather in late August above 8,000' is very much what is was like here on Friday and Saturday, a break from the stinky heat and humidity we have had recently.  Those days are simply called "Windsor" days.  They are uncomfortable and usually unhealthy.  Other simile days around here include "London" days (chilly and very damp), "Detroit" days, grey and low visibility (when Detroit does not look its best), "tropical" days, with heat, storms, and heavy rain, and, of course the several "Arctic" days we get each winter.  So far we have escaped a major storm here (though the flooded Detroit freeway from ten days ago just reopened), and severe heat (usually 100 F or above).  But the summer is young.

In music news, our listening program continues.  We are finishing up with all the Haydn records we have (a slew of them), still working on the Baroque LPs (Vivaldi currently), the complete works of Beethoven (CDs), of which we are currently at Biamonti #153 (of 849!).  We are currently amidst the Opus 9 String Trios.  And then there is the complete works of Bach on CD.  Every Sunday we listen to a Cantata during breakfast, and during the week randomly listen to different sections of the enormous box set.

With Phase 3 of Ontario's reopening plan coming this Friday, I will feel comfortable inviting people inside again for a recital.  I need to play these pieces very badly, having had them on the back burner since October.  Hopefully I will be performing again before July is finished.

Turning to art for a moment, here is another graphic art landscape from the DIA.  Early Flemish painters often used a popular religious scene as an excuse to paint a beautiful landscape.  The Flight Into Egypt falls neatly into this category, as we get to witness a Bruegelesque mountain landscape of breathtaking scope and imagination.  If this were in a Dover colouring book, I wold set out with my pencils to colour it. 

The Flight Into Egypt, 17th C.  Lucas Van Uden, Flemish (1595-1673). Etching and engraving in ink, on laid paper, 9" x 13".  Collection Detroit Institute of Arts.

Detail of above.

Detail of above.

Detail of above. 

Lastly we turn briefly to movies watched recently, all on Criterion.  La Notte is a 1961 film by Antonioni starring Marcello, Jeanne Moreau, and Monica Vitti.  It's another almost Zen-like movie where nothing much happens for much of the film.  Marcello and Jeanne have lost the spark to their marriage, and Jeanne wanders the city of Milan for an afternoon, exploring the city alone, much like a modern woman might do (though this wasn't done very often in 1961 Italy).  Marcello flirts with Monica at a large party, but she rejects him as he is married.  A very strange film, like its predecessor L'Avventura.  It strikes out into new cinema territory, and you will either like it or you won't.  We both liked it.

Now showing on Criterion. 

My leaving July 31st selection was the classic 1930 film The Blue Angel, directed by von Sternberg and starring Emil Jannings and Marlene Dietrich.  Though its tale of a college professor ruining his life over a dance hall girl is quite dated, the emotional impact of the film still vibrates.  The version we saw was 1 hr. 47' long, but it still seemed a bit rushed towards the end, when the professor's downfall came.  Jannings gives a brilliant performance, while Dietrich...well, let's just say that she has incredible thighs, along with an overall look about her that is perfect for the role of Lola Lola.  The little nightclub is such a wonderful dive bar, and the earlier, chubbier girls on the stage are really quite fascinating, especially compared with the much more slender  and bland ones that dance there five years later.  Glad I finally got to see this.

Leaving Criterion July 31st.  

Next time I will talk a bit about some of the games I have been playing lately, including card, board, and computer types.  Till then, adieu.

Mapman Mike

 
 

Clear Nights, and Some Cloudy Ones

I have had two outings already in the April session, Thursday and Friday.  And it's clear tonight, but the sky is pale and smoky, so I am staying home.  Spring skies offer unprecedented views of other galaxies, and I have had an eyeful lately.  With daylight savings time I can't begin observing until 9 pm, so my nights get later and later now through summer solstice.  I am currently undertaking observations in Sextans and Coma Berencies, both areas loaded with galaxies faint and bright, small and large, and everything in between.

 

I took a short break from practicing piano earlier in the week, and it helped my sanity.  Our province has just imposed further restrictions once again due to rising Covid cases.  There will be in place for at least another month.  Vaccinations continue to slowly move ahead.  Deb and I are scheduled for Wed. April 7th.  We shall see.

 

In movie news, here are my two picks for last week.  My main pick was Red Desert, from 1964.  There are several movies by Antonioni that I can never get enough of, and this is one of the them.  His first colour picture, this one belongs to Monica Vitti all the way.  She plays the part of a woman having a perpetual mental breakdown.  Married and with a young son, she has been in a car accident, hospitalized, and is on a downhill path in her life.  She reminds me of a bird that has struck a window, and is dazed and confused afterwards, and possibly permanently damaged.  Her furtive movements, looks, and her deep insight into such a woman's troubled mind makes for a film that is hard to watch sometimes, but is astounding most of the time.  It came with several short extras, including interviews with the director and with Monica.

Now showing on Criterion.  

 

From the leaving April 30th file I chose an odd duckie of a film starring Dick Powell and Adolph Menjou called The Tall Target, from 1951.  It purports to tell the tell of a New York policeman's  efforts to stop the assassination of Lincoln before his presidential inauguration.  It all takes place on an overnight train journey from New York to Washington in March 1861.  It ends up being a typical Hollywood thriller, with Powell as cardboard an actor as could be.  It is interesting historically, since modern American politics looks pretty much the same today.

 

Showing on Criterion until April 30th. 

 

And now, at long last, I return to the world of fine art!  It's Spring, so how about a Spring photo from the DIA's collection.  It could also be called "I Miss Detroit."  I love this man's work!

 

Marjorie East, From The Zone.  2009, printed.  Scott Hocking, American, born 1975.  14.4" x 22".  Collection Detroit Institute of Arts.  

 

And I can't resist another one by Scott.  This is one of the most sublime images I have ever seen.

 

Roof Marsh, Roosevelt Warehouse, Detroit, 2008.  Scott Hocking again.  22" x 33". 

 

It's images like these that make we almost wish Detroit wasn't improving so quickly.  This whole area is under full redevelopment currently.  Alas, no more marsh....

 

Mapman Mike