Breaking the code

Film-maker Abhishek Chaubey likes the ambiguity of Antonioni8217;s films
Two films by Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni,Blow Up 1966 and The Passenger 1975,are very close to me. What I like the most about them is that they dont have a plot and yet they hold you by the beauty of their ambiguity. They dont make any statements and they dont tell you what to think. This is what cinema should be like; it should have some ambiguity,not something that is already figured out for you.

Blow Up is a movie about observing something wrong around you and that you need to do something about it,but its not your call. The Passenger deals with identity and the journey of a character into an unknown land. The film gives you no perfect answers,which is just like life. Antonioni focused on understanding how the audience thinks. We,as film-makers and viewers,are programmed to watch a certain type of films. We like to watch films in our comfort zone. We are bound by a certain code. Antonioni breaks this code and experiments,thus making its meaning richer.

Antonioni is one of the best directors of Europe and is one of the pioneer film-makers between the 1940s and the 70s. He has shaped the way films should be made. His films are works of art that command our respect,and everyone should see them,even if they dont understand them. He hasnt had any direct influence on me,or my work,but I must have watched these films when I was 19. At some indirect subconscious level,he has been present in my journey as a film-maker. I dont think I have it in me to emulate him; I just do what I can do.