Educational Media Reviews Online

After the international success of his 1966 English-language film Blow-Up, Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni planned to make his next film in Japan. The project was cancelled, and Antonioni never did work in Japan. But over 40 years later, filmmaker Eric Baudelaire was inspired to devise a parallel universe in which Antonioni made a series of Japanese films, using story ideas Antonioni published in his book That Bowling Alley on the Tiber (1986).

Baudelaire calls his work describing these imaginary films The Makes. The title initially appears on screen as The Remakes, then the letters ‘r’ and ‘e’ disappear. As the DVD container for The Makes states, “Baudelaire invents the notion of the ‘make’ as a remake for a film that was never made, the ghost of a movie lurking behind a document attesting to its possibility.”

Baudelaire does not use any film clips in his 27-minute creation. Rather, his work consists of a presentation by French film critic Philippe Azoury, ostensibly offering a critical commentary on Antonioni’s Japanese films. The only cutaways from Azoury talking are to still photographs of Japanese actors, supposedly those who appeared in Antonioni’s films. The commentary is quite developed and thoughtful, and it’s easy to believe Azoury is taking about films that actually exist.

Azoury quotes critic and historian Bernard Eisenschitz that, “The most beautiful films are those one hasn’t seen.” Baudelaire has created an imaginary cinema that is beautiful in its thoughts and possibilities. His work, which could be termed a pseudo-documentary conceptual art piece, is recommended for libraries with strong art and film collections.