En kärlekshistoria - Andersson

A Swedish Love Story, directed in 1970 by Roy Andersson.

I'd seen "You, The Living" a few months back.  I felt it was a quirky film, with characters only the director would understand. It really limited itself to a small audience.

The film, however, was a straight forward love story, with an authentic Sweden set during the summer of 1970. I kept questioning how old the characters were due to the young faces, yet excessive amount of smoking.

Teenage film, when it actually involves the teenage years rather then the stuff dubbed "teenage film" at the moment, is able to craft a realistic portrayal of the obligatory naivety of the teenage characters, to show their flaws, mistakes, and misunderstandings of the adult world they're shortly going to enter. This film manages to do this, and thrives with the unique cultural setting, and overall charm of the male and female lovers. An interesting aspect of the film is that there isn't much dialogue between the couple, which allows for the scenes and actions in the story to highlight the youthful emotions at play and genuine clumsiness of their character.

It's not a film I can praise highly with artistic or philosophical merit, but one I can praise for pure enjoyment value, it's portrayal of innocence, and it's flawless creation. I don't think there was a filler scene, or underdevelopment. Cinematography was spot on for the overall theme, the scene under the rail tracks and away from the moped gang was especially authentic and wasn't beyond the scope of the film.

The film ends fairly strangely. The lover's parents have a merry gathering, hosted by the parents that live in the country, and we see the clash of the parents with the rocky marriage who live in the city. I didn't understand the city-country perspective in this film, feeling it was drifting away from the mere love story it was portraying so well, almost as if the director wanted to fill in some time, or say more. Without detailing this stage of the plot, this was the directory's attempt to make a comparison between the perplexities and struggles of adult life, but ends abruptly without having anything concrete to think about after the viewing. This look at parental differences of the young couple relates back to their "youthful emotion", but by this time the plot hasn't naturally lead into this direction, which allowed the film to spiral into a different direction, for better or worse.

Fortunately, it was more of the better that allows me to conclude that, overall, this is a good film, with a questionable inclusion of plot direction that steers away from what we expect in the love story, but one that does not impair the quality and feel of the film, but, for me, adds a genuine interest and matter of discussion afterwards, and allows this work to stand as something far more unique than the average drama romance.

Smultronstället - Bergman

Wild Strawberries, 1957, by Ingmar Bergman.

I can't say much about the director's work. The first film I had seen by Bergman was The Seventh Seal, followed by "The Hour of the Wolf" -- Bergman's only (psychological) horror film. This is my third Bergman film.

It's an easy-flowing film to watch. mainly because the plot is so open for interpretation. At times lucid, lucious, and thought-provoking, but ultimately a film that will make you feel very insignificant, in a good way. Especially if you're a younger person. This theme in these film is the evaluation of one's life. That insignificance, however, allows you to cherish and enjoy life for what it is, rather than what society makes us believe it is.

Through the eyes of an old man, we see the coldness he has endured, yet given to others throughout his life. In some ways I felt comparisons to Kurosawa's "Ikiru", which is also about an old man having an epiphany towards the end of his days, looking back on his life, and trying to find peace before he leaves. It seems when death is approaching us, or the very thought of it, we all change. Perhaps if we all thought about death a little more, we'd be more satisfied with ourselves?

What makes the film so challenging to understand is the ground it covers on this road trip, especially when they stop at the house he used to spend summers at as a child, and picking up young hitchhikers, who trigger the dreams to troubled relationships, experiences, and moments in his life. We share the journey, whether it be the protagonists answers to his dreams, as well as the nightmares, the proposed questions about life, self-discovery, the purpose of reflection, and the meaning of human existance, or just the act of it.

The plot and cinematography, I feel, were both sitting on a back row seat. The cinematography especially was simple yet elegantly accomplished, and I feel this may perhaps be the director's most personal work. I have read Bergman wrote this script while in a hospital bed.

I'd love to watch this film later on, and perhaps give you my thoughts then, when I feel a lot wiser. It gives a warm sense of being knowing that a piece of art is going to be with you for a very long time.

The Sacrifice (Offret)

Made in 1986, this is the final film by Andrei Tarkovsky. It was made whilst he was dying of cancer and died shortly after the making. This was filmed outside of the Soviet Union, in Sweden, home to one of his most admired directors, Bergman. 

The film takes place hours before a nuclear catastrophic event -- World War III. The protagonist is relaxing in a field with his son refered to as "Little man", joking around with him, and also venting his philosophical qualms (the lack of spirituality in modern manking) as the child plays in the grass. Those not familiar with Tarkovsky's films would find it slow, boring, and difficult. 

What is strange, is there's this working class man -- the 'friend' -- and the university professor (the main character) discussing Nietzsche and other modern philosophers, whilst the working class guy randomly circles around on his bike, as if in a lucid dream.

The man makes a prayer to God, saying he'll leave (sacrifice) all he has if the war ends/never happens. Perhaps it was all a dream? One of the real disasters in the film was a major camera breakdown, resulting in one very important shot going to waste. If you pick up the DVD, you'll get another disc with a documentary on Tarkovsky, and the filming of The Sacrifice.

Whilst preferring the atmospheric nature of Tarkovsky's post-apocalyptic Stalker I found The Sacrifice stunningly beautiful. There are extremely long shots in the film, one being over nine minutes. The use of imagery is varied against a rural Swedish setting, but a careful eye is required to notice the shifting from colour to black and white -- a style Tarkovsky had used in other films. The natural flowing of the character's placement on set, the stories the post-man has, the way the family interacts, and isolates itself from each other -- it all flows into a gorgeous work of art, with such careful symbolism throughout.

Tarkovsky is not a very accessible "entertaining" film-maker (he claimed that films set out to entertain insult him); some viewers claim his work makes a great demand on the viewer's attention span, but surely there are other ways to depict disaster other than explosions?

This film allows us to see into the soul of Tarkovsky. The music from Bach, Japanese flute, Swedish traditional songs, and the essential rich philosophical dialogue is just as unforgettable as the imagery. Tarkovsky's work on the screen seemed such a natural, beautiful form of art and for that, unlike many others that found The Sacrifice upsetting and left the cinema in '86 with tears, I'm upset because there will be no one like Tarkovsky.

Hour of The Wolf

Hour of the Wolf is a Swedish film from 1968 by Ingmar Bergman. It is described as a "gothic, psychological horror*".

This is said to be one of the director's most personal films. The atmosphere that I expected from something that is hailed as a gothic horror by Bergman just didn't cut it. The film was a mess, and I don't just mean the plot that could of been a mess for a good, psychological reason, but lacking certain elements to make the film interesting or entertaining.

If I was to break a film down into things to comment on it would be the plot, camera work, acting, sound, atmosphere, and dialogue. I can conclude by saying that none of the aforementioned is worth discussing. This is a very average film and I'm glad it wasn't any longer (1hr24m). A lot of it consists of the main character and his wife staying up all night talking (70% dull), followed by visits to a castle full of people - some good stuff going on here, but doesn't last for long.

This film for me really lacks any type of depth - even the type to make it an old clichéd black and white horror* film.