Another passing

Frirst Ingmar Bergman, now Michelangelo Antonioni, another of those who opened my eyes whyile I was working my way through SMU in Dallas as assistant manager of an off-campus art house cinema. We always held over Antonioni films for a second week; they were that popular. The most lasting influence on me has been his way of designing film, his rapport in particular with the urban landscape, although Zabriskie Point was also something of an eye-opener.

Then came Blowup, perfectly timed for a lad like me, much the same age as the film's hero and by then in the thick of Swinging London. At the time I had some contact with one of the film's stars, the lovely Sarah Miles, through some business links with her wonderfully eccentric boyfriend Willie Donaldson. And it was indirectly thanks to Blowup that I met Jane Birkin who at about ten year intervals still pops up in my life.

A single name, Antonioni, and so many lessons, insights, memories.