Seaside Town in January

Seaside town in January
Washed away by the rain
Blown away by the wind
Seagulls drifting over the beach
The only sign of life

Slowly
Very slowly
I'm saying goodby
Leaving the country
That now feels like home to me

Just hours before I cross the sea
Leaving this country behind
Washed away by the rain
Blown away by the wind

(2002)

Deserto Rosso

A gloomy industrial landscape in grey. Right in the middle, a woman walks along with her little son, both in colourful jackets, green and yellow. Colours that stand out from the background, colours that shine - but the contrast shows the distance between the characters and their surroundings...

Michelangelo Antonioni's first film in technicolor leaves no doubt that the director used the new technical possibilities on purpose - and to a great effect. Throughout the film, the colours play a major role in creating an atmosphere and reflecting the characters' moods. The film's central figure is Giuliana, wife of a factory owner in northern Italy and mother of a little son. Allegedly traumatised after a car crash, she is strangely distant, totally alienated from the outside world and her usual life, controlled by fear. She wants to open up a shop but has no idea what to sell. She seems confused and estranged from her surroundings. Soon she finds herself in an affair with Corrado, her husband's colleague, who gives her all the attention and interest she doesn't get from her husband. Their conversations evolve around her remoteness from the world, and it turns out that there is much more to the "accident" than is apparent at first sight...

What remains is the question whether things could be different in a different place. Corrado's never bound to one place, always on the move. A restless soul who keeps wandering about, always hoping to find what he's missing in his life. Giuliana is more rooted in her place, the thought of leaving, which comes up at some point, remains just a thought, deep inside she probably knows that what troubles her will not simply disappear just by leaving (Besides, leaving what? The town? The country? Life itself?). The tristesse, the undefinable fear is within us, a part of our lives in this world. Giuliana begins to accept that - not coming to terms with it but somehow trying to get on with her life and the neverending struggle against the alienation, the fear, the noises in her head, the hollow emptiness that has taken over her life.

The protagonist's desolation is mirrored perfectly by picture and sound. The grey landscapes and industrial sites - often in blurred vision to emphasise the distance between Giuliana and the world around her - the monotonous hummung of machines that seem like voices in her head. Just by watching, one can feel what she must feel like. At the same time, the perfect
arrangement of colours - with bright, shining colours often contrasting the grey - is highly impressive. A masterpiece both in its content and its visuals.

Martha

Hectic
as she lights her cigarette
obediently smoking outside

Desperate
as she reaches for the phone
craving for social contact

Paranoid
as she screams at his sight
as if he were to kill her

Resigned
as she constantly gives in
follows his tactical lectures

Principles unquestioned
Rebellion refused
Her own home – hell on earth


(2007, inspired by the film "Martha" by R.W. Fassbinder)

Blue Monday

Impressions...

Impressions I (Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, August 2004)

Driving south – no sun in the sky
Rainclouds hiding the blue
The town appears
Out of nowhere
Behind the hill
Terraced houses in parallel lines
Spreading all over the valley
Snaking up the hills in sleepy desolation
Once the biggest town in the country
Now degraded to the size of a village
Almost oblivious of its former glory
They say it's a ghost town now
Half deserted and half asleep
Its people betrayed by history
Deprived of their dreams of a brighter day

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Impressions II (Cardiff, August 2004)

Raindrops and city lights
Never go to sleep
No idea where I'm going
North or South, East or West
No sign to indicate the way
Will my restless soul arrive one day?
Rows of houses
Illuminated windows
Thousands of people I still haven't met
Thousands of people I want to know
Will I wander around forever
Looking for THE place to stay?