Yet I still read that book. It's like revisiting Michelangelo's fickle weather.
When watching the film, I unconsciously associate the camera with the shooting process mentioned in the book, such as whether the actor enters the painting from the left or the right? The sudden jump of time from day to night is incoherent; the rapid zoom brings about abrupt rhythm... These are not too much attention when looking at them before. Even when I was watching an indoor play, I would unconsciously think that, in addition to the two people on the bed, there were Michelangelo in this room, as well as a lighting engineer, a sound engineer, a clerk, and so on. It's a pity that the actor's superb acting skills still feel a little absurd.
So, the book ruined the movie. Especially in the case of reading a book before watching a movie.
Why did Benjamin criticize the consequences of photography for art? But because art will become less mysterious and accessible because of the popularity of photography. For example, to see Michelangelo's reliefs in the past, you needed to go to the church in person. Only when you look up at those floating lines and colors can you truly feel the closeness of art and the soul. And in print, you have less respect for it in the first place, so you dismiss it, you don't even stay for long.
This is because the mystery of art is dissolved.
This film is about love, but at the same time, it is also about art.
As it manifests itself, love always floats on the clouds, unpredictable, something that can only be viewed from a distance and cannot be played with. Neither pair in the film ultimately bear fruit in love. The question is, does love have fruit? Isn't the beauty of love its flower?
Anna Karenina's love has no sweet fruit. But she has a transcendent love.
Love is fruitless. Neither does life. Death is not the result. But it is the beginning of another sense. And the whole point is in the process. So is love.
Art comes from love. Some people say that art comes from pain. But where does the pain come from? A numb person does not feel pain, so pain also comes from love. From unrequited love, from unstoppable love. Artists always try to pursue something eternal, especially eternal love. Because of the collision between this pursuit and reality, I feel pain, and from this pain blooms the flowers of art.
Regardless of the film, the filming process alone is the strongest evidence. Michelangelo, who had not touched the film for 12 years, filmed 100 minutes of video under the condition of aphasia and inability to move, and the pain in it was beyond anyone's understanding. Likewise, we cannot experience his love.
As Wenders says, Michelangelo's shots are always alienating. Looking at the smooth long-shot changes in the film, we know that the director is not speaking from the perspective of a character. The director is just an observer, showing what he thinks he needs in front of your eyes. Their sadness, their search, their cowardice, their perseverance, their helplessness...
It is this alienation that gives life to the image. This is Antonioni's consistent style. Starting from "Red Desert", the theme of his films has always been inseparable from the alienation and loneliness of modern people. The alienation of the lens gives the image a dignity with a mysterious feeling. It is this dignity that strikes you.
The original and ultimate source of this dignity is man. It's just that this living life makes it dim at times, but as long as you look carefully, stop and listen carefully, you will find that those "things the size of sesame and mung bean" also have their own dignity.
Therefore, art comes from the disputes and unhappiness on the filming site, as well as the intimacy, cooperation and trust. What finally appears before our eyes should not be what happens on the land, but the art on the cloud.
Because only this kind of detachment will make people stop and experience its dignity. Or to put it another way, to dream seriously. Of course, art is not a daydream, art comes from the earth, but floats on the clouds.
For a better experience, don't read the book before watching the movie. Remember remember.
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