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Viskningar och rop (1972)
Powerful
"Cries and Whispers" is about a woman dying of cancer, Agnes, her two sisters who watch over her, Maria and Karin, and their maid, Anna. It is a powerful, character driven film about the relationship of these three sisters (or lack there of) and their struggle to communicate. It's about the difficulty in letting yourself be touched by others, and the vulnerability that comes from opening yourself up.
Maria and Karin are emotionally crippled characters; Maria is an adulteress who hides behind her flirtations and is unable to handle any sort of confrontation and Karin is a sadomasochist who is completely unable to express herself. They are different and alienated sisters who have not had any real communication since they were children. Even after a night of bonding and talking heart to heart, things seem to go back to the way they were before, as if Bergman were saying that opening up and touching (both emotionally and physically) are important first steps, but don't seem to actually solve anything in the long run by themselves.
Anna is a character in contrast to these two sisters. She seems to be the only one who is capable of unconditional love and provides the most warmth and comfort for Agnes as she is dying, despite the fact that she has arguably suffered the most from loss in her life.
I found Agnes to be the most interesting character. She took pleasure in the littlest things in life, such as a stroll through the garden with her sisters at the onset of her illness or later simply gazing out the window when she has the strength. She seems to be the only sister who takes complete solace and refuge in the presence of the other two (I sometimes got the feeling that Maria and Karin wanted Agnes to die a bit faster). The final line in the movie, a quote from Agnes' journal, shows her appreciation and love for those around her and for what life has given her, stating she is thankful for the presence of her sisters. I found this particularly bittersweet: it is good to know Agnes felt so good around her sisters but I seriously doubt her sisters ever really felt the same about her. The question I always have about Agnes is whether she had this profound love and appreciation for love before she got sick, or if this love came because she got sick. I like to think that it was the former (based, for instance, on the priest's words about her) but people do tend to feel this towards the end of their lives more. Most likely, it is a combination of the two.
The film is beautifully shot, with deep tones of red complementing the rest of the rather white and monotonous backdrop. The film is beautiful and will leave you thinking about life and meaning and love and alienation as only a Bergman film can. A very powerful film.
Le fantôme de la liberté (1974)
Truly Surreal and Irrationally Rational
This was Luis Bunuel's final and most personal work, which he completed while he was in his 70's. Bunuel was always interested in the surreal and dreams, "Phantom of Liberty" especially. The movie constantly shifts in narrative, beginning to develop some story or character and suddenly switching to another minor character as the scene peaks in interest; the minor character is then developed in a new scene. Each situation is more ridiculous and surreal than the one before it. One of the early scenes in the movie is a creepy looking man in a park who shows some pictures to little girls and tells them not to show any adults. When the girl's parents find the pictures they are disgusted to find images of famous landmarks. It challenges our assumptions in a brilliant way; the viewer assumes that the pictures are inappropriate and sexual in nature and that the man in the trench coat at the park is a pedophile, when in reality the pictures are of buildings and landmarks. My favorite is the "dinner scene" where people sit defecating together at a table and individually excuse themselves to privately eat in a little "bathroom." When a little girl at the table tells her mom that she is hungry, her mom warns her not to talk like that at the table.
The movie is filled with the sort of irrationality that is completely rational. It's strange, twisted dream logic that shouldn't make sense, yet it does (like the little girl who is simultaneously lost and sitting right next to her parents, who politely ignore her while worrying about the whereabouts of their daughter). And yet to Bunuel, these things are completely real; dreams and fantasies are a part of our individual realities, so why shouldn't they be portrayed in movies? This movie is a lot of fun and is a truly surreal experience.
Idi i smotri (1985)
Intense
This is, without a doubt, the most intense and grueling war movie I have ever seen. The entire film is a complete onslaught of the senses. It is the story of a young boy named Florya and his small Soviet village during the Nazi invasion of World War II. At first, naive to the reality of war, Florya finds and gun and is excited to join the Russian militia-style resistance to the Nazis, much to the dismay of his mother. The time span of the movie is only over a few days, but the boy appears to age years over the horrific events he endures. The soundtrack is absolutely harrowing--as bombs are dropped and the camp is attacked, it's as if the viewer's ears are ringing amongst the chaos.
At two and a half hours long, watching the film is a rather draining experience. Notably, towards the end of the movie as a village is burned by Nazi soldiers. All the townspeople, including Florya, are forced into the building as it is set on fire. As the camera shows people inside fighting to open the doors, crammed into the building, I started to feel panic attacks and claustrophobia. I felt I was in that building, scared and completely helpless, struggling desperately to get out. The Nazis are, as usual, inhuman dogs who drink and laugh wildly as an entire village is burned inside a building, only allowing out adults with no children. Florya's fate is decided by the whim of an officer, who waves him away with a nonchalant wave as the troupe marches on to burn another village. The ending speaks an important message, as the Russians simply shoot a small band of Nazi soldiers, rather than burning them alive in kind.
I honestly don't believe that these things I gave away will take away from the experience of the film because this film is just that, an experience. It is a long and depressing and grueling film, but one certainly worth watching. The titles at the end, stating that what happened here happened in over 400 villages, is beyond my comprehension. War is not presented as courageous or glorious, but as it really is, terrible and traumatic. I did not sleep the night I saw this movie. Difficult to sit through but it should absolutely be seen by all.
Moznosti dialogu (1983)
Truly Amazing
This is hands down one of the coolest and most impressive animated shorts I have ever seen. Divided into three parts, each is equally well made and absorbing. Aesthetically speaking, this was probably light years ahead of its time--a beautiful ancestor of filmmakers like Tim Burton. The messages can be hard to decipher but there is a good deal of political commentary here as well, especially the third one which speaks strongly and poignantly against Communism. Even if you don't quite know what each is saying (the first still confuses me) they are wonderful to simply watch. Beautiful and fluid. It's amazing that he was even able to get away with creating these shorts in Eastern Europe at the time without being killed by the government. If you have a chance, watch this movie. You will not regret it.
Qian li zou dan qi (2005)
A Great Film
"Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles" is about a Japanese man, Takata, who travels to China to film a masked folk opera for his estranged son, who is dying of cancer. Father and child have grown extremely distant since the death of Takata's wife when the son was younger. Takata has closed himself off from the world, including his own son, and isolates himself to a small fishing village. Takata travels to Tokyo to visit his son in the hospital, at the insistence of his daughter in law, but his son refuses to see him. After learning of his son's love for Chinese folk operas and fatal diagnosis, Takata takes it upon himself to travel to China to film a particular opera singer performing a particular opera for his son--an opera and singer the son intended to return and see the following year.
Of course, things are not that simple. The opera singer is in jail and the Chinese government isn't too keen on foreigners filming inside of their prisons. First Takata is stuck in a bureaucratic mess, then he has to go looking for the singer's illegitimate son in a remote village so that he will sing, all while his daughter and law keeps pressing him to return and see his son before he dies. The plot, while somewhat interesting, is rather predictable, especially at the end. But this is hardly some plot driven thriller or fantastical martial arts movie. This is a film about communication and alienation.
First, the simple language and cultural barriers are a struggle for Takata. Westerners tend to group Asian cultures together as on giant, cohesive civilization, but this film proves that all these Asian countries are anything but. Takata seems completely helpless, at the mercy of his guide (who barely speaks a word of Japanese) and the rest of the Chinese citizens. Cultural differences are made abundantly clear. Takata is extremely reclusive and has trouble expressing his emotions and feelings, whereas the Chinese characters are much more open with themselves and with each other.
Another aspect of the film I particularly enjoyed was Takata's attempts to learn about his son. He would ask his guide and the rest of the people in the area what his son was like, believing they were friends because of his son's frequent trips to the village. What he learns is that he son was just as quiet and reclusive as he is, detached from society. A bittersweet moment: to finally, after all these years of not speaking, learn things about his son and find out who he was and what he was like, only to find out he was the same as his father, a quiet and lonely recluse, unable to open up to the world.
Some of the best moments of the film come when Takata visits the remote village to find the son of the jailed opera singer. Takata seems to open up and connect with this boy in a way he was never able to with his own son. Overall, this is a beautiful film. The running theme is alienation and the lack of communication amongst people, notably Takata and his son. The characters are engaging and its amazing to watch the attempted communication between people at various levels of human relations.
Dom za vesanje (1988)
Beautiful Tale of Disillusionment
"Time of the Gypsies" is, in a sense, a film about the loss of childhood and innocence, and the disillusionment with the world that inevitable follows--but it is so much more than that. Perhan is at first a young Gypsy boy with telekinetic powers and the kind of exuberance for life that only children seem capable of. He gets his first taste of disillusionment when is barred from marrying Azra, the girl he loves, because he is a poor bastard child who lives with his grandmother. Soon Perhan leaves his gypsy village and his home (or what's left of it after his drunken, gambling uncle goes crazy one night) to seek medical help for his sick sister and to try and make some money with the gypsy "money king" and his band of travelers.
This is where Perhan's real disenchantment with life begins. After being forced to leave his sister in a hospital, witnessing things like the buying and selling of newborn babies like simple farm animals (not to mention being beaten senseless in the mud), Perhan is forced to accept the conniving and deceitful gypsy methods of income. After some betrayal and police intervention, Perhan even becomes the leader of this ragtag gang of beggars and thieves. He returns to his village as the hardened image he thinks a man should be. He finds Azra pregnant and refuses to believe the child is his own, blaming his own crazed uncle. Perhan states he cannot trust people ever since he started lying. He has money and marries Azra, but he is not happy. Life is now about finding midgets and cripples to start a new gang and start making money. Despite the spoiler warning, I don't want to give away much more of the story (this only covers the first half or so). Suffice it to say, things continue to go relatively poorly for Perhan as he is sucked deeper and deeper into the dark gypsy world of crime and deceit, completing his disillusionment with the world.
What I love about this movie is how constantly engaging it is. The village feels like a real gypsy shanty town, it is the only movie made in the authentic language of the gypsies (Romani), and most of the actors were actual gypsies. The characters are all very real and complex and everything is simply authentic and absorbing. Even Perhan's powers (as well as his grandmothers')are treated realistically, as if it were perfectly natural for these mysterious gypsies to have supernatural powers and to question it would be simply ridiculous.
I found myself fascinated by the entire gypsy culture presented, something I think most viewers will really appreciate. I absolutely loved Perhan, though he had his despicable moments, and viewers will find themselves cheering for him (or berating, but rooting for him nonetheless). Some of my favorite moments in this film were in the beginning, just watching Perhan and the rest of the village simply going about there lives, especially the parts with the turkey.
"Time of the Gypsies" is a fantastic movie and you should see it. Amazing and unique story, though it can be a little slow in places, the gypsy music is awesome, the film is speckled with beautiful and humorous moments, and the cinematography is top notch, creating a real sense of mood and atmosphere. In a word, extraordinary. Go see this movie.