Offscreen Notes
Tonino Guerra
One of the greatest screenwriters of art cinema, Tonino Guerra, passed away on Wednesday, March 21, 2012, at the age 92. I first became aware of his name after it appeared on the credits of two of my favorite filmmakers, Michelangelo Antonioni (L’avventura, La notte, L’eclisse, Deserto roso, Blow-up, Zabriske Point, Beyond the Clouds) and Andrei Tarkovsky (Nostalgia, Voyage in Time). Once I looked further I realized that this name was associated as an important collaborator with a great number of some of my favorite filmmakers, making him, quite against my will, my “favorite” screenwriter. The list of names he wrote with is impressive indeed: (along with the above) Mario Monicelli, Theo Angelopoulos, Francesco Rosi, Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica, Dino Risi, and Paolo Cavara. Perhaps some of the credit behind the mood of stillness and aesthetic “ennui” so much a part of Antonioni, Tarkovsky and Angelopoulos should now be given to this late, great screenwriter.
