Review of L'Avventura (1960) by M. K — 13 Jul 2009

Antonioni's most famous film may begin to run out of steam toward the end, but its opening half, set on a desolate Italian island, contains some of the most evocative passages in film. His follow-up film, the also brilliant L'Eclisse, is essentially L'Avventura in reverse--whereas that film begins with stunning visuals representing emotional disconnect, and then returns to normality to examine dissatisfied bourgeoisie moping, L'Eclisse begins with the bourgeois dissatisfaction and culminates in alienated visual grandeur.

They both feature great lead turns by the sadly under-appreciated Monica Vitti (who would go on to work with Antonioni several more times, most notably in his great Red Desert), but L'Avventura comes out on top for its unforgettable images and revolutionary cinematic language.