New Arrival Red Desert (#522)

Michelangelo Antonionis 1960s panoramas of contemporary alienation were decade-defining artistic events, andRed Desert,his first color film, is perhaps his most epochal. This provocative look at the spiritual desolation of the technological ageabout 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 husbands coworker, played by Richard Harriscontinues to keep viewers spellbound. With one startling, painterly composition after anotherof abandoned fishing cottages, electrical towers, looming docked shipsRed Desertcreates a nearly apocalyptic image of its time, and confirms Antonioni as cinemas preeminent poet of the modern age.

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Film Info

• France, Italy
• 1964
• 117 minutes
• Color
• 1.85:1
• Italian
• Spine #522

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Audio commentary by Italian film scholar David Forgacs
• Archival interviews with director Michelangelo Antonioni and actress Monica Vitti
• Two short documentaries by Antonioni:Gente del Po,about a barge trip down the Po River, andN.U.about urban street cleaners
• Dailies from the original production
• Theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A new essay by film writer Mark Le Fanu, a reprinted interview with Antonioni conducted by Jean-Luc Godard, and writings by Antonioni onGente del PoandN.U.

  New cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang