Ingmar Bergman
Host: Tanner
Freddy's Take: The only movie by Bergman I had ever watched was "The Seventh Seal" and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I don't suppose it struck me enough to immediately follow up with Bergman. Tanner brought "The Seventh Seal", "Wild Strawberries" and "Persona", so I was going to get exposure to a couple movies I wasn't familiar with at all.
The films can be a little confusing at times, but I found them to be so much more sophisticated than many (most?) of the American films I've seen from the same time period. I have to learn more about that, as it seems European film from that era were fairly abstract, open, and challenging, whereas American film was much more focused on story narrative and character and were rarely overt on the topics of race, sex, and politics. Religion and death are points that get touched on quite a bit in "Seventh Seal" and "Wild Strawberries" and Bergman never seems to take a very clear stand on just exactly how he feels about either. I believe these are three movies that I am going to go back to again and in all probability I'll seek out even more of the directors work. Ingmar Bergman has a new fan.
The Seventh Seal
Wild Strawberries
Persona
A short segment from a Charlie Rose interview with Max von Sydow, discussing Ingmar Bergman.
