La Notte (1961)

1 October 2019

La Notte (1961) is a film that has popped up often with the Criterion Collection sales for me, so I bit the bullet and purchased it with their B&N annual sale. I should start by saying that I generally like dramas: David Lean's dramas have been particularly gripping to watch and I'd recommend any of them. This Italian film is directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and in general is kinda interesting to watch - the acting's great, the cinematography is... odd (you get a lot of moments of actors staring at buildings or things off camera), and the story is one of those "day in the life" kind of things. In this case, a day in the life of a failing marriage. Personally I think there are better films for this kind of drama if you want it (like I mentioned, I'd recommend any of David Lean's films, and Brief Encounter (1946) is older and better than this one in my opinion). But it's an interesting style and film, although I don't think it ages well at all and gets to be a slow, slow film for modern audiences. That said, it's still nice to watch and see that style of film-making in action. 7/10