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Pretty Good

As Good As It Gets

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Blistering performances.

This early work by Antonioni in many ways prefigures the post-modern movement. It defies genre expectations by blending crime and romance story conventions and presents to the audience vacuous characters portrayed by thespians deliberately chosen for their lack of acting ability. Added to this is a paper-thin plot, filled with meandering scenes. Unfortunately, it is at that point that comparisons with the (purportedly) "great" films of the post-modern movement, such as Blade Runner, end.There is nothing engaging here and the film is ultimately as shallow as the character of Paola. Whilst her vacuous, empty life is well represented by such scenes as the auction of the gown, there is little insight into why she is the way she is. Also, like many post-modern works, there are no solutions. The character does not grow or develop. Whilst in Blade Runner, the commodified Replicants are finally revealed to be more humane than the humans but here there is no answer to the world's post-War malaise. The social critique is also muted and often misses the mark. Paolo is disconnected from the world around her and self-absorbed but this limits the film's opportunity to critique the society that produced her.The deliberately disconnected plot and dialogue only serve to confuse, contributing nothing artistically. The vacuousness of the film mirrors a vacuous West adrift after the war but adds no commentary on that society.In summary, this film will only be of interest to admirers of Antonioni who want to see him develop his style. Artistically, the film is a failure. As post-modernism grows stale, so too do films like these. What would have been seen as a somewhat ambitious work in 1950 does not even have that sense of freshness in its favour now.

The feature film debut of future Italian cinema star Michelangelo Antonioni is quite conventional and straightforward as compared to his later works, which are generally regarded as masterpieces. Though not in that category, this film ranks as a very well-made melodrama that dares to also include exploration of the darkest of human desires, specifically within the context of marriage and fidelity. Chance also plays a large role here, helping to reunite former lovers who pick up where they left off, ironically thanks to the woman's husband hiring a private detective to follow her as he suspects she is having an affair. What follows is often high-strung, dense and very moving as Antonioni shows us the most desolate shots of the beautiful city Milan. Many of the establishing shots are long shots of corridors, streets and other walkways that create great sense of alienation, isolation and illicit activities. The ending may require a bit of explaining but still fits the overall tone of elegy and bitter sadness. A powerful and moving Italian melodrama that certainly could be used as a template for American filmmakers today.

In Milano, when the wealthy and jealous entrepreneur Enrico Fontana (Ferdinando Sarmi) discovers hidden photos of his gorgeous twenty-seven year-old wife Paola Molon Fontana (Lucia Bosé), he hires a Neapolitan detective agency to investigate her past. Enrico, who owns twenty companies, married Paola during the war in March 1943 and her past is unknown to him. Detective Morale Carloni (Gino Rossi) is assigned by his boss to head to Ferrara, where Paola studied the technical school after leaving her hometown in Rovigo. During his investigation, the snoopy Carloni discovers that the teenager Paola dated many youngsters and her best friends were Matilda Calvani and Giovanna Carlini, who died seven years ago two days before her wedding with Guido (Massimo Girotti). He gets the address of Guido with Matilda's father but his wife sends a letter to Guido advising that the police was probing him. Guido travels to Milano, where he meets Paola after seven years to show the letter. When they see each other, their old passion reignites; but Carloni is still chasing the truth about the tragic accident with Giovanna."Cronaca di un Amore" is the first feature of the director Michelangelo Antonioni and his debut could not be better. This film noir has a magnificent cinematography in black and white and unusual and sophisticated angles of camera. The story is engaging, with the gorgeous nineteen year-old Lucia Bosé, who was Miss Italy 1947, in the role of a twenty-seven year-old fatal woman married with a rich industrial that left an old passion after a tragic accident and revives her love when they reunite seven years later. The romance is quite a comedy of errors, with the feeling of guilt of Paola and Guido affecting their love. Milano in the after war with few cars on the streets is also impressive. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Crimes d'Alma" ("Crimes of Soul")

I suppose the single most interesting aspect of this film is shifts in perspective. At first, we are introduced to a detective who spends some time investigating the past of a woman at a concerned husband's request. The husband is worried that she might be cheating on him, as some photographs that he discovers reveal her to have quite a lively past. With all the inquiries being made, there is eventually a leak about the investigation, which the woman finds out about from a friend. From then onwards the perspective changes from having the detective as the main character to having her as the main character. While this switch is interesting, I'm not quite sure if I understand Antonioni's motivation behind it.The story carries on, and the basic plot is not full of excitement, nor is it complex. It appears that the woman and a former lover were involved in a murder plot some time ago, and the woman is concerned that the police are after her. She calls up the old lover, and this is where one of the film's two great ironies is present. Until the investigation began, she was not having an affair or anything like that behind her husband's back, but now that she is re-united with her old lover, a love affair starts to develop again between them.The story continues on after this, and there are many small (perhaps unnecessary) subplots thrown in, such as a party of some sort at which the woman randomly buys a dress, and some other blonde woman that her lover might also be having an affair with? Most of the supporting characters present in this period of the film are hardly at all developed, and it is in fact hard to judge whether this section of the film could have just been condensed to five minutes. Either way, it eventually comes to point at which the woman and her lover decide that they definitely want to be together, and they plot to dispose of her husband in a road accident. Ironically though, he gets killed on the road the very night they plan it on his own accord.Some of the themes running through the film are interesting. The murder plot that they were involved in during the past is never explored in much detail, but we come to understand that they wanted to dispose of a woman who was getting in the way of the two of them having a relationship together. Another, albeit minor, irony here is that killing her drove them apart. Once again at the end they are driven apart, just by the intention of wanting to kill her husband, even though they never went through with it.In terms of Antonioni's screenplay, there is definitely enough going on to make it engaging plotwise. However, I find it hard to construct even one sentence to describe each of his characters. The way the detective is often seen alone, or from behind with others in front, constructs him as a loner. But that's all that we are told. Other characters speak of the husband's jealousy, but he never seems more than curious. The wife and her lover fit the model of two doomed lovers, with the typical dread and paranoia attached, but not much individual personality. It was hard for me to connect with the film, because the characters came off too cold for me to connect with, and the dialogue between them left quite a bit to be desired.The one thing that really annoyed me about the film though was Antonioni's soundtrack. More than half the scenes were filmed with noticeably noisy backgrounds, and in some cases --- the boy hitting the ball against the wall; birds chirping while talking on the telephone --- these sounds felt forced into the film. I suppose Antonioni was trying to say something with his use of sound, but what? And the noisy backgrounds aren't constant throughout either. It is very strange, and not really a positive thing as far as I can see. Also the variety of jazz music played over the action was overbearing, taking over the dialogue at certain points. Generally though, the music helped to set the mood well.To leave off with a positive comment, Antonioni does quite a good job adapting film noir techniques to his project. The lengthy shadows, contrasts between soft and hard lighting etc, really give a 1940s American film noir feel. The black and white photography captures the film quite well, with panning, zooming etc., without disturbing the flow of the narrative. And there's one very interesting shot in which the type of lighting used makes a river/lake appear purely white, even though shot against a grey sky. The visual side is interesting.Overall, there is a lot of interest going on this film, however there are at least a couple of factors that were detractors for me: the coldness with which all the characters are handled, and the lack of ease watching it, due to the odd soundtrack. It is indeed not an easy film to watch - but certainly, an interesting one.