The Seventh Seal [Ingmar Bergman, 1957]

It's the first time I've seen this landmark film on the big
screen, and it's a special treat to see it in this new digital
restoration.

Fifty years, and the film has lost none of its power or relevance. The
primal fear of a world without god, the dread realisation that this is
not all laid out for our convenience, still troubles the world: that
sucking leech Religion still corrupts the blood. And yet, when the
world finally grows up and rids itself of all its gods, this film was
still have relevance: it will still speak of existential angst; the
horror and beauty of existence.

The images still have their intoxicating potency: the game of chess with
death; the procession of the doom mongers, with their incense and grim
crucifix; the merry dance of death on the horizon.

What is so easy to forget about this film, though, is its humour and joy
and goodness. The wit and kindness of some characters, their sheer
decency, shines through the gloom. In a strange way, the film is filled
with hope as well as despair.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050976/
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050976/>

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Private Fears in Public Places [Alain Resnais, 2006]

This adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's play works very well on the big
screen. Resnais knows about the power of restraint. He has a sure
sense of the underlying pulse of the scenes, and an eye for the colour
palette which will enhance rather than overwhelm.

It's refreshing to have a film that deals in loneliness and
separation with such a warmth of feeling towards the characters. So
often a cold cynicism is paraded as profundity; here it is the maturity
of empathy.

This film remains with you long after it's finished.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498120/
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498120/>

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Syndromes and a Century [Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006]

Don't be put off by the clumsy English title; this film is certainly
worth watching. It may reject the neat orderly structures of
conventional plotting, but it has a poetic logic of its own. Like
music, it's about the development and contrasting of motif; about
graceful modulations; about texture and rhythm.

It's funny, tender, unsettling, and joyous.

It may be very strange, but a rewarding experience.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477731/
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477731/>



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