Blowin' In The Wind

Antonioni and Bergman

Peers to the end. It’s hard to believe Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni both died on the same day. I saw Bergman’s Seventh Seal at a Calcutta (Kolkata) film club long ago and still remember the Dance of Death, where eerie medieval figures dance across a vast emptiness. And who can forget the opening scene where the knight (Max von Sydow) sits down for a game of chess with robed and hooded Death? It’s amazing how haunting it is, this black and white film made in the 1950s.

We in Calcutta used to compare Bergman with Satyajit Ray, who was no less poetic and atmospheric  -- and to my mind -- even greater as a filmmaker. But the man to read on Bergman is Richard Corliss, on the Time magazine website.

Bergman was one of the greatest filmmakers, but Antonioni defined a generation. For a baby boomer like me, it’s impossible to forget Blowup and Zabriskie Point. Blowup (1966) caught the excitement of Swinging London while Zabriskie Point (1970) was about late 1960s America. It had music by Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead. But while they can be heard on the soundtrack of Zabriskie Point, the Yardbirds can be seen at a gig in Blowup. Here is the scene where they perform at a London club. I have posted it on this blog before.  But Antonioni’s death gives it a fresh resonance. Here’s the sound -- and the look -- of the Sixties. Jeff Beck smashes his guitar while Jimmy Page happily plays on and singer Keith Relf belts out great rock'n'roll.

Before MTV: Blowup and the Yardbirds

MTV turns 25 this month, the Sunday Times reported yesterday. Not that I ever watched it. When I first saw it, it showcased artistes like Michael Jackson, yech! And when I last saw it, the fast-moving images made me dizzy. I realised I was getting old.

There was a time when I loved psychedelia. And some of my favourite movies featured great music. Reading the article on MTV reminded me of Michelangelo Antonioni's stylish thriller, Blowup, set in the swinging London of the 1960s. It was the ultimate in cool at that time: the music, the photography, captured the era perfectly.

The Yardbirds perform in one scene towards the end. Seeing it on the big screen was absolutely mindblowing.

I searched the Net to see if I could see that scene again. And here it is.

It doesn't have the same effect seen on the Net. But look at the lineup. That's Jeff Beck smashing his guitar. He is backed by Jimmy Page. The singer is Keith Relf.

The man entering the disco is the hero, David Hemmings, who plays a fashion photographer. He takes sneak shots of a couple making love in a park. When he develops the film, he sees a dead body and blows up the picture to investigate the mystery.

The Yardbirds in this scene are performing Stroll On.

Meryl Streep

The finest actress of her generation and a beautiful woman, Meryl Streep radiates intelligence and can be both warmly attractive and tantalisingly cool. It was the warmth that shone through in an interview published in The Straits Times yesterday. Ong Soh Chin wrote about her husky laugh and her ''crushing sense of humility''. Streep, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Kramer vs Kramer (1979) and Best Actress in Sophie's Choice (1982), said she had nothing to teach.  "Acting is so much about play and maintaining an innocence about yourself and what you're doing, '' she said.  "Otherwise there is no instinct." I instinctively knew I had to blog this, just to post a picture of my favourite actress. I haven't seen a single movie since Fahrenheit 911, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but I hope to see Streep's latest starrer, Prime, which opens in Singapore today.

Here's to you, Mrs Robinson

A lot has happened in the five days since I last wrote. I still can't get over the death of Anne Bancroft, who played Mrs Robinson in The Graduate.

It's one of the most unforgettable films for someone of my generation. How can anyone forget the soundtrack with all those Simon and Garfunkel classics -- The Sounds of Silence, Scarborough Fair Canticle, and of course, Mrs Robinson. I saw the film and immediately Dustin Hoffman became my hero. He was like no other actor at the time. He played the anti-hero college graduate Benjamin to perfection.

But the most memorable scene for me, now that I look back, was not between him and the nominal heroine, Katherine Ross, but his bedroom scene with Bancroft, who played Ross' mother. In the scene, Bancroft starts talking about art, having been an art major in college. But Hoffman starts laughing. Even though they are having an affair, to the young man, she is still a middle-aged housewife. He finds her talk about art funny. It's insensitive, cruel, and, as one grows older, haunting.

A fortysomething reminiscing about his dreams and aspirations can seem funny  to a teenager or a twentysomething as if they alone have the right to dream and strive. They are right, of course; the future belongs to them.

But we had our glory days too. I will watch The Graduate any day over any of the Star Wars movies. Spoken like an old man, but I remember seeing the first two Star Wars movies when they were first released, and even then I didn't think much of them. Not after Blow-Up and Easy Rider and MASH and Woodstock and, yes, The Graduate. Those were my kind of movies. Here's to you, Mrs Robinson: we love you still, as you know.

Death of a star

Parveen Babi was the first Asian actress to be featured on the cover of Time magazine. But even Indian film buffs wondered why she had that honour. She was not a great actress and the films she made were eminently forgettable. But she was glamorous and one of the most beautiful actresses to grace the Indian screen. Now she is dead. Out of the public eye ever since she retired from the film industry years ago, she must have led a terribly lonely life. Reports said her body was found in her apartment in Bombay probably two days after she died. The Telegraph has the sad story.