Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964)

6/10
I keep struggling to like Antonioni movies against every fibre of my being. I enjoyed the photography and direction of Red Desert, as well as the always watchable Monica Vitti. Although like L'Eclisse and L'Avventura, I find the getting-there to be the most annoying part. I like Antonioni's ideas and settings and photography far more than I've ever liked any of his characters and the inanities that often come out of their mouths. I'm starting to think his films would be great were it not for the people in them.

L'Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962)

7/10
The third Antonioni I've seen and the third to not really impress me but I liked this one more than the other two (L'Avventura and Blow-Up). I still don't think it was anything to gush over. The black and white photography was beautiful and Monica Vitti has an incredible presence, but I was bored for a lot of it to be perfectly honest.

L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)

4/10
My second Antonioni (after Blow-Up) and the second I haven't been particularly impressed with, I wonder just how well his films age...L'Avventura certainly seems to be more of its era. Its characters and their dialogue share something with the French New Wave but I find those films (the ones I've seen) to still come off more vital. I found L'Avventura less interesting as it wore on (to the point of boredom) and not necessarily because the "disappearance of Anna" was phased out. I just didn't find the remaining characters, their ensuing relationship, or anything else particularly engrossing. Maybe Antonioni just isn't for me, but I'll keep an open mind since I also have L'Eclisse to watch eventually.

Blow-Up (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966)

6/10
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. There were only two scenes that ever really held my interest - the Yardbirds performance and the game of "imaginary tennis" at the very end of the movie. Although afterwards I read Andrew Sarris' Village Voice review and he remarked on the apathy with which Antonioni treats his subject matter (the fact that a photographer has accidentally captured a murder in a park) and I thought that was pretty interesting as well...but as far as the film went - not so interesting.