Zabriskie Point
Posted by martinteller on December 30, 2009
As a Pink Floyd fan for coming on 30 years now, I guess I should’ve gotten to this sooner. But I’ve never heard very good things about it, and even among Antonioni fans it doesn’t seem very popular. For the first 40 minutes, it’s pretty lame. A lot of revolutionary, free-spirit, fuck the man, America-is-dead hogwash. After you get through all that nonsense (basically, after the two main characters get out of California) however, it gets really good. It’s still about free-spirit revolutionary stuff, but it’s done much more elegantly. And beautifully. Some of the cinematography in this film is amazing, some of Antonioni’s most impressive imagery. And believe it or not, there’s actually a 10-minute “free love” orgy in the middle of the desert that’s neither exploitative nor embarassing. It’s really quite a nice expression of sensuality. And the ending is incredible, an explosive marriage of music and visuals. Although the film is dated and the message is naive (and the acting isn’t that hot), overall it’s not as bad as it’s made out to be. Rating: 7
