ShangLuda
Admirable film.
Sammy-Jo Cervantes
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Leoni Haney
Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.
Kirpianuscus
it seems very strange to define it. because it has the sin and the virtue to be not exactly a film. maybe an experiment. but not in real sense. a collection of images and emotions, a parable or a game, opportunity for two young people to perform, a critic to social absurdity, a confession or a build of new world. colors and image and simple poetry of image and sketch of story. this is all. nothing for impress . but to translate a state of soul, the tension of a period, the desire/need to return to the original peace. the film is not a manifesto or a demonstration of the art of Antonioni. it is only skin for a state of soul. and this does it special. strange. and memorable.
markmuhl
First seen in the eighties with mixed feelings I could never forget this film. I had to see it again and this time it almost blew me away.This first and only Antonioni movie set in the United States starts with a remarkable discussion among students about revolution to be followed by student riots at university campus with one student and one cop shot dead. The air in these scenes is full of vibrations from the flower power era.After this introduction it becomes the story of two young people (part time student suspect of cop murder and part time secretary) who are looking for a little more in life than serving the dollar. They flee the city into the desert out of different motivations (adventure versus meditation) and by different means (stolen airplane versus secretly borrowed car), meet in the desert half by chance (great scene with his airplane 'attacking' her car), enjoy each other's company, explore the desert landscape (peaceful versus dead), smoke a joint, love each other and split. Back in the city, the boy is shot dead by the police for steeling the airplane. The girl, when hearing this on the radio, is full of grief and hatred against a world that allows such things to happen. She tries to return into civilization (a modern villa in the middle of the desert) but cannot stand it and has the villa explode when fleeing from it. This seems to do the trick in consoling her wounded soul. End of the story.This offbeat story comes along with a great soundtrack and a highly aesthetic camera work by Carlo Ponti, intriguing shots from the LA city landscape followed by beautiful pictures from the desert. However, what is the meaning of all this? As usual, it is up to each viewer to find his best personal interpretation. Let me give mine here briefly: The film shows a certain sympathy for revolution but it is not very optimistic about it. Paradise has been lost long ago and there is no way back. It is like the swan song for the hippie slogan 'Make love not war'. Sure, the boy is probably a rebel by nature and maybe he is even a little criminal, but does he really deserve this poor ending? Despite this maybe too negative interpretation, the movie is still likable for the simple fact that Mark and Daria, the two protagonists, make such a wonderful and beautiful couple. They share the same kind of thoughts and the same kind of humour. They even complement each other in having surrealistic dialogues. It is just a pleasure to see how much they enjoy each other's company and how naturally they make love with each other. To me this is very convincing, so how can it be bad acting as other comments suggest.Also on the plus side, the movie is, as mentioned before, full of surreal dialogues like the one phone call by Rod Taylor that starts with a good-bye and ends with a hello or Daria's notion that so anyway should be one word to make it a possible name for the Soanyway River. For anyone who likes that kind of stuff be assured that there is some more of it.At certain points, the movie is leaving the outside narrative pattern and crawls into the perception of the characters. This accounts for the two probably most famous scenes in the movie: the free love scene in the desert with countless naked bodies making love on the rocks of Zabriskie point and the house explosion scene at the end, shown in slow motion from different angles. These subjective realities are the result of cannabis consumption on the one hand and of wishful thinking coming out of despair on the other hand.So for anyone, who is looking for some kind of different movie, try this. Be assured that it will not leave you indifferent.
Dr Hilary Rhodes
It was not long after the release of Zabriskie Point that the 'counterculture' of the late 1960s died out, for many reasons, too long to visit in this review. Zabriskie Point is highly symbolic and Antonioni had some premonition of the shape of things to come. It was a time of free love (in some circles), a hope for positive change, an awakening to the degradation of the environment, an awareness of the dismissal of history and local culture, transforming all into a decultured, materialistic mainstream. It also is reminiscent of the films "If…", and "The Ruling Class", a comment of the British class society, not dissimilar their basic conceptual foundations.The film was not perfect by all means, after all, how did Mark know how to fly. There are other non-sequiturs, but then, the film is rooted in the imagination, but with a reference to Cinéma vérité. We should appreciate Zabriskie Point as a sign of those times, and is still highly relevant in its ideas, despite its hopeful romanticism.It is beautifully shot in the desert landscape, and contrasts well with the smog filled atmosphere of sprawling LA.I saw this film in the 70s and admit to only partially understanding it at the time, though its images have always stayed with me. Today, on playing the Rockstar game GTA V (Grand Theft Auto V), virtually travelling through those landscapes made me wish to revisit the film which I was able to view on YouTube once more. GTA takes us into the desert once more, and also looks at the same issues that underpin Zabriskie Point and is even more iconoclastic in its approach to today's problems. No doubt the creators of GTA V take their much of their inspiration from this unusual film.
m-sendey
A young former college student Mark (Mark Frechette), jaded with lack of any revolutionary actions, wanders with his friend from one gun shop to another, deceiving a seller that they need weapons for self-defence, with a view to initiating his own revolution. During the disturbances in which students partake, Mark is said to have slaughtered a policeman (one never sees clearly if it's true – the protagonist argues it isn't). So as to evade consequences, Mark steals a small aeroplane and escapes from Los Angeles. While he is looking at the deserted landscape from the plane, he notices a car, which is driven by Daria (Daria Halprin), an attractive hippie who is a secretary and lover of Lee Allen (Rod Taylor). Mark and Daria's relationship begins and starts to flourish… Zabriskie Point (1970) was Michelangelo Antonioni's first and sole American motion picture. One may assume that the astonishing success of Blow-Up released 4 years earlier derived from the fact that the movie, on account of an apparent thriller premise, was understandable for less orientated viewers who were deeming the plot and its afterthoughts in a superficial manner. Zabriskie Point was a financial disaster, devoid of such aspect and thus incomprehensible to an ordinary film-goer. Even more risky was spending 7 million dollars on this art-house, adjusted to American industry, with an anti-Establishment and anti-consumerism message. Additionally, Zabriskie Point was dismissed by the critics for being anti-American as well as insufficiently profound to analyse both the problems of youth and those pervading America tackled in the film. Notwithstanding, these aren't the only reasons why Zabriskie Point was one of the greatest flops of 1970s as this Antonioni's flick is heavily flawed. Apart from having sparse, scatter-brained texture, the movie has a juncture which looks like a resolution and only when one sees that the action continues, does one make out it isn't the end. Unfortunately, this isn't all. The characters played by Frechette and Halprin virtually aren't given any kind of depth, their acts aren't driven by any desires, aims or needs, thus their emotional background is very shallow. The feeling of pointlessness is ubiquitous which also might be entailed and compounded by the unconvincing acting (both actors had very little experience) which doesn't render the things better. The moments of better performances are few and far between.Mise en scène leaves mixed impressions. There is no doubt one deals with Michelangelo Antonioni, but outbursts of cinematic beauty are quite rare and the direction seems very distant, tepid and unsatisfying. While efforts such as Blow-Up (1966), The Passenger (1975) have quasi-documentary ensembles and illusory, bizarre finales which indicate more complex exegeses and contrast with earlier exploited style, Zabriskie Point starts to be solipsistic and hallucinogenic already from the half. The action takes place in the late 60s. The beginning reminds of a documentary recounting a turmoil occurring in LA in that period of time. Utilizing fast zooms, swift movements, shaky camera-work and sharp editing, Antonioni gives it a documentary appearance. The instant a viewer beholds open and isolated spaces of Zabriskie Point, the flick gets more surrealistic and the best illustration of it is the love scene, owing to which Zabriskie Point was originally rated X at its premiere in 1970. It is a hallucinogenic vision which probably depicts the mental state of both characters and comments on sex which was considered to be a taboo subject. Antonioni deems this act as a normal deed and in this way he scoffs at all arguments against acknowledging its role in life of every human being. Antonioni exploited actors from The Open Theatre, an experimental theatre group, active from 1963 to 1973, to shoot the sequence which is absolutely ravishing as well as intense and remains one of the best moments in the film. It displays other couples kissing and making love in the desert which transforms from an isolated into a crowded place. Whereas the first part isn't that engaging, in the second one, particularly towards the end, one receives a genuinely graceful Antonioni style. Once Daria is forlorn, one obtains a great deal of beautifully crafted scenes regarding isolation and solitude which are typical for earlier Michelangelo Antonioni's movies. The finale sequence is simply phenomenal, although the music accompanying it changes too abruptly.The cinematography by Alfio Contini is spellbinding. It miraculously captures the beauty of warm sun-baking dunes of Zabriskie Point. The lighting is terrific and it is truly bewildering in how many ways one can depict the same desolated and lifeless space. The soundtrack composed by Pink Floyd, Jerry Garcia and other musicians is tremendous and might be one of the best ones ever recorded. Every single score is simply exquisite.Zabriskie Point has obviously an anti-Establishment message, but Antonioni portrays America of 60s in a so demonized manner (i.e. protesters are good, the police are hostile and bad etc.) that his vision of the USA looks utterly unreal. Certainly, the reflection that the world should be altered by the force of mind as well as our behaviour, not violence isn't anything ludicrous, but the framing which Antonioni utilizes to state it is too harsh and thus excessively subjective. In addition, in case of Zabriskie Point Antonioni appears to be too confident and incapable of refraining from some self-indulgences. Antonioni is positive what he wants to utter in Zabriskie Point, but the movie does not contain sufficient substance to discuss. The subject, which is superficially analysed, outweighs the plot, the script and the characters, which ruins the entire concept. Structurally, Zabriskie Point is a spectacular catastrophe, with more and less riveting moments, but it's still a catastrophe which lacks consistent storytelling. The visually imposing framing cannot diminish its numerous flaws and the omnipresent feeling of pointlessness sweeps away plentiful benefits. Notwithstanding, Zabriskie Point is worth a look forasmuch despite implicating all those errors, it flabbergasts with its artistic opulence and ravishing visuals.
