"Red Desert" at the PFS with the Art Appreciation and Philly Film groups

About this event

This is the first time that we'll be combining forces with the former Philly Film Club, about which Morgan, the organizer, writes: "...the motivation is a general love of film, and so we'd like to watch a pretty wide variety of genres, directors, etc., trying to include classics (inclcuding cult classics) when we can, newer movies that may have some buzz around them, and maybe some other things that don't fit neatly into a category." He also values "listening to input from group members," which I'm all for as well. :) That said, we thought we'd start with the apparently all-too-relevant art film *Red Desert* from 1964. Here's the Criterion Collection writeup: *Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1960s panoramas of contemporary alienation were decade-defining artistic events, and Red Desert, his first color film, is perhaps his most epochal. This provocative look at the spiritual desolation of the technological age—about a disaffected woman, brilliantly portrayed by Antonioni muse Monica Vitti, wandering through a bleak industrial landscape beset by power plants and environmental toxins, and tentatively flirting with her husband’s coworker, played by Richard Harris—continues to keep viewers spellbound. With one startling, painterly composition after another—of abandoned fishing cottages, electrical towers, looming docked ships—Red Desert creates a nearly apocalyptic image of its time, and confirms Antonioni as cinema’s preeminent poet of the modern age.* Let's get tickets individually; they can be purchased on the PFS website: [https://filmadelphia.org/movies/red-desert/.](https://filmadelphia.org/movies/red-desert/) As usual, those of us who are free and interested afterwards can go someplace to discuss the film over food and drinks (in just about the most central location we can possibly be in if we're talking about Center City, we should have plenty of options!).