Critique La Ventura :: Art

Critique La Ventura La Ventura is widely regarded as one of the greatest films to date. Michelangelo Antonioni didn’t win the Palme D’or, but it did get a Special Jury Prize during the Cannes film festival of 1960. No surprise he didn’t win the Palme D’or, but why give him an award in the first place? The reason for winning the title seemed unclear at first because the film had serious issues with breaking the rules of standardized filmmaking. For example having his actors enter the scene from opposite directions from where the came the shot before. However L’Avventura is a whole other world of its own. The title translates to English as â€Å"The Adventure† and indeed that’s what it is. The movie is relaxing to watch thanks to the scenery, but it’s slow and a bit boring. The film is over two hours long (2:20 or so) and it takes a while to get anywhere. This is disturbing because the plot didn’t seem to have as much importance as the camera angles, framing shots or dialogue. These aesthetics had more importance than in most other movies. It also had an unusual way of telling the story - done mainly by showing images to transfer the main message. Technically, it’s a photographic journey! Well, kind of. Mainly because the whole island shoot is done through wide angle lens that squeezes the nice black-and-white landscaping in the background. Also effective is how people seem to disappear in it. Another beautiful shot was on the roof of the church where the two main characters are ringing the church bells like kids playing, and then other church bells respond. That was a very nice sequence and a very nice symbol. The initial problem that the characters have to deal with however was Anna and her disappearing. In a typical film, finding Anna would have been what the story would follow. But as L'Avventura goes on, the script allows us or makes us forget about Anna. This process is done slowly, and we never stop thinking about Anna. We are struck back to Anna especially in the end when Claudia mentions her. The movie picked up pace after Anna disappeared especially with the kiss of Sandro and Claudia. There are two main characters: a man and a woman. Sandro wants sex from his girlfriends and refuses to commit himself to one, while Claudia needs love and more love.