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When I was a very small boy, the very small boys talked to me
Reviews
Lustgården (1961)
Small Bergman gem, a treat for fans
The movie was written by Ingmar Bergman, but directed by Alf Kjellin. From 1961, it falls between Glass Darkly and Winter Lights, so one can imagine how Bergman would have had great fun writing this, while not intending to direct it in that period. It is a fresh, satirical comedy about petty bourgeois covert romance and social barriers. The direction is quirky, fun, but uneven, with several dead or awkward passages. Altogether very pleasant though. The story entails the secret year-long romance between a small town teacher and a waitress, taking place at a time when the waitress already has a 20-year old daughter which no one knows who has fathered. Bergman fans are into a real treat with Bergman superstars Gunnar Björnstrand and Bibi Andersson, and also minor Bergmanians Stig Järrel and Kristina Adolphsson. Björnstrand is the teacher, sporting an improbable moustache (did he have moustache in any Bergman movies?). And male Bergmaniacs better braise themselves for the sight of Bibi Andersson as the daughter, at the age of 26, in COLOUR! Not wanting to venture into borderline sexism, let me only say that just her hair color is an incredible golden/pearl white that cannot really compared with anything else in the world, but goes extremely well with her immensely blue eyes and... well 'nuff said, you should be ready to sell a family member to see this movie just once.
Elina - Som om jag inte fanns (2002)
Moving child vs teacher drama from Norrbotten
Tiny Swedish gem. In the 50es, in the desolate Norrbotten, Finnish-speaking kids are enrolled in the strict Swedish education system as personified by Bibi Andersson's extremely uptight Ms. Holm. Imagine Shirley MacLaine in her most uncompromising appirition and then some. Bibi is marvellous as the given villain here, but on the other hand the part does not give her much else to work with than parading a never-yielding stone face. Nevertheless, to this viewer, this film adds miles to her reputation in terms of versatility. A life and death power struggle soon materialises between Holm and desperately cute pupil Elina, a true wolf in sheeps clothing if ever you saw one. The story is paper-thin but razor sharp and grossly engaging. ***SPOILER*** The standoff culminates in that familiar scene from Dead Poets' Society where all the kids unite in rebellion, only in this movie it actually serves a purpose. My regrets only go to the fact that secondary story lines were not explored, as a possible romance was only vaguely indicated, leaving the movie with a quite narrow outlook. You will never see this one at Blockbuster, but if you do, grab it.
Kvinnors väntan (1952)
An artist emerges
Early Bergman, and from the onset it is clear an artist is at work. The first conversation piece, with all 5 waiting women in the same room, is a long shot approaching 4 minutes, with various of the women talking. There are also already some typical Bergman postures, with one woman talking intensely and the one next to her staring vapidly past her downwards, seemingly lost in her own inner world. All that in well and good, but as soon as I heard the first monotonous monologue from the mother, her eyes turning to heaven, speaking of how she can not reach out to her husband", not even to scratch his eyes out, my Bergman-radar immediately hit the red zone. And surely enough, we are in for group therapy all the way, as each woman tells of one significant episode from their lives with their husbands. But it is a very elegant movie, and along the way you become quite sympathetic, even though all the stories describe infidelity and frigid bourgeous lives. My eye was caught by Eva Dahlbeck, who I also recently saw in Sommarnöje sökes. Here, at 32, she is sizzlingly hot. Overall it is a movie not to be missed by Bergman lovers, if mainly for historical reasons. His next movie was Monika, so this one can be said to commence his golden period. For the trivia-consumers: IMDb informs that Eva Dahlbeck has recently filed for divorce, after, ahem, 67 years of marriage. You go, girl!
Flickorna (1968)
Badly dated, but extraordinary parade of beautiful actresses
The production year says it all. The movie is a marauding mess of politically correct leftwing feministic selfappreciating drivel, of a so heavyhanded symbolic variety that comes across as ridiculous today. Every scene has the purpose of shedding light on one of the burning issues of society, mainly the role of females in the working community, the role of women vs men, women as sex objects, consumerism, politics, war, etc. Every scene is commented upon by the inner dialogue of one of the main actresses, or by turning the scene into a surrealistic joke. I have no reminiscence of any plot, or who the main characters actually were. It is the sort of movie, where consumerism is mocked by having a couple make love in a furniture store sales window while the sales agent delivers his speech, or where a revealing interview of a stage actress turns into a fullblown striptease act, for "of course" the offensive gentlemen of the press is the equal to a raunchy club audience. Then we move swiftly on, as we need to see war erupt in a peaceful forest, we need to see multiple inflammatory feministic public speeches being drowned in the (male) blowing of cars horns or rioting crowds, and of course we need to see cinema newsreels of Stalin and all the other usual suspects. You get the idea. But all this does not matter at all. The movie is an unsurpassed piece of eyecandy for any (male) Ingmar Bergman aficionado. A movie boasting leads Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson and Gunnel Lindblom at the height of their beauty makes this reviewer surrender completely and just drivel and also delight in watching them so generously use their acting skills in a movie I had never heard about before today. It is hard to believe how especially the face of Bibi Andersson owns the screen every single time she appears. The cinematography is gorgeously orchestrated bw, often revelling in an overexposed (?) dimensionless whitishness, and you just never grow tired of watching the performers. How absurd, that a movie made with so much consideration for the feministic agenda, tirelessly advocating that women should not be viewed as merely an object of desire, has nothing better to offer the 21st century viewer than a parade of stunningly beautiful babes. As mentioned, I am not complaining. I could rewatch it tomorrow.
Chichi ariki (1942)
Good, not great, movie from Ozu...
Slow-moving tale of a father's relation to his son. After a pupil accidentally dies on an excursion, a teacher (Chishu Ryu) retires from services and starts working second rate jobs to provide for his son's education. The movie jumps many years to show the relation of the father and son as the son has come adult. It is a film about sacrifice and duty. The two main characters must live a life apart, given that the son has so fulfill his studying duties and the father is working elsewhere. There are some heartthrob scenes with the small boy and a gentle Ozu melancholy throughout, but I find it not to have very much going for it in terms of theme display or drama compared to other Ozu I have seen, with basically just the two characters. Still, effective film-making on very simple premises. Excellent score I thought the composer must have been Ozu regular, but was not.
Meshi (1951)
Interesting but unsubbed...
Unsubbed, so I cannot really review it properly. Setsuko Hara is radiant though quite bland as the housewife who gets fed up with her husbands deroutes, especially regarding his (rather innocent) adventures with a young niece. She moves back with her relatives, but once hubby shows up in a more humble state, all is forgiven. I don't think much else actually happened, but the film is given to describing the everyday tasks and problems rather than great melodrama. Although Ozu is hailed as the great Japanese director for the Japanese, it seems to me that Naruse's film are more effortlessly showing the natural life of Mr. and Mrs. Japan, while Ozu's often come across as more staged tableaux. This is likely because of the invariably fixed and central camera Ozu employs, which makes the room in which a scene takes place appear as a stage and the action strictly choreographed. Compared with Ozu Naruse's camera is quite more engaged, however subtle the movements and variations may be, and he makes more frequent use of semi-close ups and reaction shots.
Fröken Julie (1951)
Sense and sensibility
A magnificent piece of cinema and a great Strindberg production. It is the second movie by Sjöberg I see after Hetz, and it seems to me that he bestows an unparalleled sensibility to scenes and to individual characters. This comes as a blessing to Miss Julie, since the Strindberg characters are a more or less neurotic and unsympathetic lot, who needs all the empathy the viewer can muster. It is the story of a dangerous liaison between the noble Miss Julie and her manservant Jean. The story takes place after the damage is done, as during the night-long midsummer festivities the two contemplate running away. Now, the times that one of the two change their mind about running away or not cannot be counted on two hands, an it is a good example of why I normally cannot stand stageplays by people like Strindberg, and certain love/hate Bergman movies like Scenes from a Marriage and Saraband. But the immaculate rendering of feelings and passion that stream towards you again is the saving grace and lifts this movie to a much higher level than any of Bergman's gut wrenching offerings. Plus, there are some brilliant narrative goodies like the extremely elegant flashbacks, which intertwine seamless with the present, or the rhythm of calm scenes with emotional ones and the punctual reoccurance of the noisy meandering midsummer night party (acts sort of a Greek choir to the two mains). Also, fantastic camera work, composition etc. Max von Sydow has an unsympathetic bit part, many years before he played for Bergman in Seventh Seal. Already looking forward to seeing it again.
Miracolo a Milano (1951)
A movie like no other - far cry from de Sica's best
De Sica is becoming one of my favorite directors, but this one was a hit-and-miss for me. A grinning idiot youth becomes the leader of a community of illegal settlers in a deserted area outside Milano. It is a detailed and sparkling story of the innocent poor masses, complete with evil capitalists and trigger-happy police forces, but slowly it evolves into a magic fantasy tale, as the boy wonder Toto develops unlimited superhero powers. I had it up to here with the ever-smiling Toto after 10 minutes, and when the magic took over, I was left in the dust. There were so many wonderfully orchestrated shots, so many good characters among the settlers, that I kept thinking it was a waste the movie wasn't more serious with its material. The coupling of neorealism and fantasy comes out more as an experiment of the "look-what-we-can-also-do-mum" sort than as a fully developed piece of work/art.
Anna Christie (1930)
Garbo talks in very literary drama
The first sound movie Greta Garbo did is an adaptation of an Eugene O'Neill play, and it shows. Many scenes are way too long, especially in the beginning and end. Greta Garbo only appears after half an hour of drunken dialog, but a sparkling entrance it is, as she stands in the doorway of a bar, slowly enters and sits down you can imagine audiences awaiting her first spoken line. She is the prodigal daughter returning to her sailor father's port. She does not know that he is a drunk, and he does not know that she has been a fallen woman. They finally meet, he takes her in, and she sails with him on his barge, where destiny takes another turn when a love interest comes aboard. Garbo is simply fantastic here, so confident, so full of life and pain. When you know it, it is easily seen that some theatricals from her silent career linger on, and she does not do much with her voice, but her face tells a million stories. Just the scene where she sees her father for the first time and tries to hide her disappointment is unbelievably good. The movie renders a good environment of the harbor and the barge, altogether a pleasant experience, but you can go boil a pot of tea once in every scene, they're that long!
Unagi (1997)
A good character study, but with some flaws
I was slightly disappointed with this Cannes winner, which has many good elements, but not a thoroughly convincing total. A rather unexciting public official, Yamashita, receives anonymous letters about his wife's adultery. Finding her in the act one night he stabs her to death. 8 years later he is trying to begin a new life, with his prison pal, an eel, as company. He opens a barber shop on a desolate river shore and tries to mind his own business, interacting only reluctantly with the locals. A woman he saves from suicide, Keiko, enters his life and tries to break down his barricades. There are many funny and touching scenes, as when Keiko tries stubbornly to provide Yamashita with a lunch bag against his will, and the many nightly fishing trips, where our hero releases the fish as soon as they are caught, are also unforgettable. The movie gains intensity because of the challenge Keiko presents to Yamashita's crumbled self, and some of his scenes of self-questioning are rewarding, but in the end I think movie is too sloppy and inconsequent. The farcical climax falls flat - what I like best are the calm scenes around the barber shop and by the river where the story comes to a halt. 8/10 ************SPOILER!!!!**************** At some point Yamashita realises with a shock that perhaps there was no letter about his wife's adultery. He imagined it. Which makes me wonder: did he imagine the adultery as well, and killed his wife only because of his frustrations with himself? His wife's sensuality, as well as Keiko's, is deeply contrasted with Yamashita's lack of warmth and inability to connect. His tormentor claims that he was unable to fulfill his marital obligations. If that is true, it could have driven him insane. And we never hear about the trial, the other man etc.
Hets (1944)
Terrific Swedish school melodrama!
An early board school tragedy foreshadowing the likes of If
and the Danish Det forsømte forår. Written by Bergman and directed flawlessly by Alf Sjöberg, it is the grim story of sensitive gymnasiast Widgren, who falls in love with charming but haunted Bertha (mai Zetterling at 19 years of age). A dark secret connects Bertha with the sadistic Latin teacher Caligula. The movie is extremely sincere, with ominous shadows and sharp light exposing Bertha and Widgren's tormented souls. Tensions are sky-high, and one senses that the drama will be the death of one or the other. I think I maybe saw this as a teenager, or is it just because archetypical school movie themes are played out here for the first time, and to perfection? I can hardly recommend this gem too much, I will probably upgrade it on next viewing.
Sagkoshi (2001)
Don't trust the rating
Warning: this is a good example of why a movie needs many votes to be on the IMDB top-250. It has a quite engaging story of a woman on a crusade to save her imprisoned husband, but is horribly overplayed and clumsily directed. Every character in every seen acts as insistingly as if it was a matter of life and death, which gets tiresome within the first scene. Only the main character has some natural talent and earns our sympathy as the plot unfolds. The cinematography is often ridiculously dramatic, the music likewise. The movie is betacam and has the overall look of a cheap Asian TV-production. Are you interested in learning more about the famous Iranian cinema, don't start here! What a disappointment.