Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger -- A Forgotten Classic (Episode 17)

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Disclaimer: All reasonable comments are welcome, including reasoned disagreements. You will be banned for foolish talk, harassment, and hate speech on sight; it's a tremendous waste of life. I believe in freedom of association and, by extension, freedom of dissociation from you.

[@travisrlel2]

Probably my all time favorite movie. Saw it as a teenager. Blew my mind and caused me to think about film much differently, that films could raise question, refuse to answer them, and then let the viewer try to figure out the meaning. Architecture, especially hotel architecture is a big theme in this film. I would also say that Antonioni was a director of pauses and silences. One thing that always struck me was how he let diegetic sounds play out, like the sound of a car driving off in the distance and then the following silence.

[@dougo891]

The famous shot at the end of the film where the camera goes through the grating of the window and then ends up looking back at the hotel is stupendous.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

yes, for sure!

[@SmilyLord800]

That shot is insane

[@J_Tag]

As a fan of Jack Nicholson (I especially like him in Chinatown, The Shining, and The Last Detail) I put this on my watchlist a while ago. Thanks for setting my expectations for it. It sounds like a film you don't immediately love after watching as it requires more thinking and a second viewing. I'll make sure I'm in an analyzing mood before I watch it.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

you've got the exact frame of mind you need to enter into the movie. enjoy!

[@canonjean-mignon4985]

These reviews are so well-balanced and pleasant to watch. You‘re even right about only Adam being cast out of Paradise. Contrary to popular belief, Eve initially was not.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you!

[@n_n_n_n_n_n]

This one has been on my list for quite a while, guess I need to finally track it down.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

enjoy!

[@dougo891]

If one listens to Jack Nicholson's commentary on the DVD, he reveals that the hotel where the final scene takes place was a practical set constructed exclusively for the film!!

[@LearningaboutMovies]

ah, great stuff. That makes me think that the final shot does have the mechanisms by which a camera could appear to go through a wall.

[@tubularap]

Thanks for reminding me of this classic ... that unfortunately I also had forgotten. Or at least not thought of often. But is was a special movie when I saw it in the cinema back then, with my movie buddy. I will send him this video and probably we gonna watch it again. Especially the ending shot was awesome.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

You're welcome. Remarkable that you recall this movie all of these years later.

[@user-zu9hq5ik6l]

今まで観た映画🎞の中で最高に面白かった映画のひとつだ。

[@cakeorpurse]

I love this movie so much! It's an absolute gem. I remember seeing it on A Story of Film (the documentary). Thanks so much for this video :)

[@LearningaboutMovies]

you're welcome!

[@cmonman3639]

This is my favorite color Antonioni movie. (L'Eclisse is my favorite black-and-white Antonioni.)

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you.

[@thevoid99]

this is an absolutely underrated film and certainly one of antonioni's great films as its penultimate scene is absolute perfection. i have it on DVD.

[@riccardomoonk3364]

I do love this movie, it's a masterpiece.

[@Ronaldsframes]

Maybe the title of the film has to do with the road movie aspect and also the sense of fate. Locke can’t escape himself or Robertson’s fate. Maybe that’s complicating it too much. Also I was thinking that the Passenger maybe refers to his love interest who, (the film poster reveals her face as opposed to Nicholson’s) somehow has a Mrs. Robertson passport at the end of the movie if I remember it correctly. She seems to get closer to knowing Robertson/ Locke than any one else. That dovetails with the themes of subjectivity and journalism, and she encourages him to keep his appointment at the end of the film like Robertson would have. Those are just some thoughts. I like these drifter movies a lot. Thanks for making these videos. They give me more to think about and look for in these films i love.

[@m2habert]

My take: he is the passenger in another vessel, another life. Lock wants to flee from his previous life, but despite his efforts, in the end he's just "wearing" Robertson's name and passport, following scriblles of an old agenda, attending appointments that no one shows up. One can't really get a new persona just like one gets a ticket to Spain or one buys a ticket to the movie theater, but, still, in various senses, many stil try. Also as many have compared the act of travelling or the act of watching a movie to the appeal of living another life.

[@daidoexposure]

I sincerely appreciate this review. In its semplicity it gives you concepts to think about. And also, I didn't find in other reviews an analysis of "anti-spy movie" aspect (funny thing: Bergman once said he would prefer to watch Goldfinger rather than any Antonioni movie). Can't wait to see other reviews :)

[@LearningaboutMovies]

Thank you. As to Bergman, yes, those artists competing against each other (somewhat) tend to downplay what would appear to be their rivals. Typical in the history of art. To me, Bergman and Antonioni have a lot in common. Maybe that is a subject to explore one day.

[@ronbock8291]

Forgotten? Who can forget that shot?

[@LearningaboutMovies]

all true except, for example, I work at a small college and I would be surprised if more than two other people there had seen this movie. Thus, "forgotten."

[@hejskipejski5751]

Great content as always Doc! When is the Card Counter review coming? Can't wait to hear what you have to say, as it has already been released here in Sweden.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you! I wanted to but the movie was not released within 300 miles of me. I've been waiting for it to be released on streaming for rental. Not quite there yet!

[@sanidhyasingh227]

I still don't know how did the one shot. The camera starts inside the room moves outside the window through the grills, surveys the outside environment and then looks at the room from outside.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

I wondered if it's like what Welles does in Citizen Kane. You have the grills that look inseparable but can be separated. You could even do that with the walls? I haven't studied it, though, to see if this is possible!

[@athul0687]

thats a common technique at that time, set component piled on wheels. Walls , set properties can be shifted behind the 180 degree axis of shot in motion. welles , hitchcock, preston sturges all employ that stuff

[@firewithfire848]

You convinced me to give this film a second chance. The first chance was when I was 17 and at that age if you could get through the wedding scene in The Deer Hunter and almost all of Reds, slow movies weren’t so off putting. Plus I’d really enjoyed Antonioni’s Blow Up. But The Passenger, was way too slow and it wore me down after 20 minutes. I’ll give it another go.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

I would've hated hated hated this movie at age 17. Some movies are for us older folks, with a bit of life experience. Still, that doesn't mean someone else couldn't get something from this movie at that age!

[@NostalgiNorden]

Sonds more like Denis Villieneuves Enemy than an action movie.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

there's no action in here at all!

[@samovrednocitanja185]

This has nothing to do with the movie, I just want to thank you for all of the videos. You could review modern movies with superlatives like everyone else and have much more views, but you choose not to and to be honest. I was wondering what are the chances of you doing a video about Mosquito coast. Watched it the other day and I felt like it's the most underrated movie of all time. So many themes and things going on. I would love to hear your opinion, since I presume you like it based on your four star rating on letterboxd.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you very much. I really appreciate this encouragement. There's a 100% chance a Mosquito Coast video will be produced this coming year. It's sitting in my stack of 10 discs that will be in the "forgotten classics" series! Not only is it a great movie, it remains completely relevant to the present day. I also hope to get to Peter Weir as a director as well.

[@samovrednocitanja185]

@@LearningaboutMovies Yes!!! I can't wait.

[@freddiemarshall769]

Have you seen any of the animated works by Don Hertzfeldt, eg It’s Such a Beautiful Day, World of Tomorrow, etc? I’d love to get into them, you see

[@LearningaboutMovies]

I have not, and I'll check them out. Thank you!

[@sanidhyasingh227]

I struggle with Antonioni a lot. I like Blow up but I don't get his other films. He takes a conventional narrative and then abandons it, there is no genuine plot in his films. His characters don't seem like people at all. I tried watching L'avventura and la notte but couldn't finish them because I was bored. His films are a study of emptiness, loneliness, discontentment and alienation. The characters seem to be filled with self loathing and disenchanted with their lives and want to escape. That is what The reporter character in this movie does. The best scene in the film is when he screams in the middle of the desert, the camera pans to show no one around. This explains the movie and also Antonioni's philosophy.

[@LearningaboutMovies]

you've got it. because these movies convey all of those feelings through form, composition, pacing, etc., they veer up against a kind of anti-entertainment mode. I have a lot of trouble with a couple of his movies. L'Avventurra I do not understand in the ways that others who call it great do.

[@suatustel746]

There're genre of directors, producers, such as Hitchcock, Tarantino, and many others their peculiarity specialised in narrative of their movies he's one of them his characters locations colours unique in the sense , the outputs rest on the viewers criteria, agenda etc...

[@khitishmohapatra922]

Hi , I like your film reviews . Why haven't you reviewed a Quentin Tarantino movie yet ? Kindly give your viewpoint about Inglorious basterds , Django unchained & Pulp Fiction .

[@LearningaboutMovies]

thank you, Khitish. I just haven't gotten to them yet. Have a Tarantino boxset in my office that I've been intending to go through.

[@khitishmohapatra922]

@@LearningaboutMovies of course , take your time & give your feedback about all of the three films .

[@edholohan]

Great movie, but strange.

[@busnfatnuts2988]

Excellent explanation man

[@LearningaboutMovies]

Thank you, and thanks for watching