Friday, January 2, 2009

Ingmar Bergman


Lately I've been rediscovering the films of Ingmar Bergman, the great Swedish film director who died in 2007 at the age of 89. I've written about The Seventh Seal here and will review more. His films reached around the world and influenced other directors. Once you see some of his works like the one mentioned above, you never forget them. His dark, eerie, dreamlike images jump out at you and pull you inside each story. There's so much to debate after you've seen one movie. He's not all gloom & doom; Find his wonderful comedy Smiles of a Summer Night: http://www.criterion.com/films/849 Woody Allen, a well known Bergman admirer, based his A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy on this one.
For a biography, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingmar_Bergman Even better here's a four part BBC documentary of his life and work. After you watch the first part, click onto the right side where it says "Go to part 2." After seeing the second part, go to the third and finally the fourth part. It's very comprehensive with clips from his important movies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNXw_dt_e2w&feature=related

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