Too rich for my blood, even at 50% off, so I’m really hoping that some of the more obscure titles will be made available for individual rental on iTunes and whatnot (not even gonna bother trying to pester my library to get this).
― Police, Academy (cryptosicko), Thursday, 12 July 2018 20:51 (five years ago) link
Filmstruck has all the features in that set except A Ship to India, Brink of Life, Färo Document, The Touch, The Serpent's Egg, After the Rehearsal and Saraband. But for everything on blu, plus the supplements and shorts and book, I'll def shell out $150 if I can get it at that price. I don't own any Bergman on disc, so I won't be duplicating anything.
― a shomin-geki poster with some horror elements (WilliamC), Thursday, 12 July 2018 21:52 (five years ago) link
Can't believe everyone is making such a big deal about a hundred-year-old ventriloquist.
― Sgt. Laughter (Old Lunch), Friday, 13 July 2018 00:21 (five years ago) link
I capitulated, unwisely.
― Simon H., Friday, 13 July 2018 00:28 (five years ago) link
Are box sets like this typically excluded from their sale? I remember getting the Cassavetes & Tati boxes during the sale last year, but those are 5 or 6 films each, not 39 (!)Was the Olympics box excluded?
― flappy bird, Friday, 13 July 2018 00:32 (five years ago) link
I watched The Best Intentions on Amazon last week, my first screening since 1994 (on PBS!) so this one might as well count as a first.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 13 July 2018 00:34 (five years ago) link
The July sale is still ongoing, and the Olympic box is down from $399 to $199, so this should definitely be available. Really glad I didn't finally pick up Persona last week, even though it was near the top of my list...
― You guys are caterpillar (Telephone thing), Friday, 13 July 2018 20:15 (five years ago) link
Assayas on Bergman
https://www.filmcomment.com/article/where-are-we-with-bergman/
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 14 July 2018 14:27 (five years ago) link
Ingmar Bergman tried to live in LA for a summer but as soon as Barbra Streisand called to invite him to a pool party he was on the next plane back to Sweden lmao pic.twitter.com/5tlmrBK2y4— Lauren Wilford (@lauren_wilford) July 17, 2018
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 16:52 (five years ago) link
idk I'd wanna hang out with Barbra drinking limoncello by the pool
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 16:55 (five years ago) link
lol yeah i remember reading that story somewhere else, IB had one of his nervous breakdowns after that phone call and left immediately
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 17:15 (five years ago) link
I watched Bergman Island just a couple of days ago and he tells that story in passing.
― a shomin-geki poster with some horror elements (WilliamC), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 17:20 (five years ago) link
no doubt Ingrid would've preferred to stay.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 17:24 (five years ago) link
why?
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 17:59 (five years ago) link
pretty sure Barbra was a better poolside companion than Liv + Ingmar.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 18:00 (five years ago) link
(and yes, yes, I know how much she wanted to work with him)
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 18:01 (five years ago) link
we're clear that "Ingrid" is Bergman's fifth and last wife, right?
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 18:03 (five years ago) link
(not the other Ingrid Bergman)
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 18:06 (five years ago) link
I thought it was Ingrid the actress before production of Autumn Sonata.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 18:06 (five years ago) link
when did he take that brief stab at living in LA? mid or late 70s?
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 18:06 (five years ago) link
76?
I like this line (from Mel Brooks apparently): "When Bergman left Sweden he complained about the persecution, the metaphysical anguish, the impossibility of realizing himself as an artist, the impotence created by the welfare state, the creeping Big Brotherism of the state ... When he left California three weeks later, he complained about the heat."
― Dan S, Wednesday, 18 July 2018 18:08 (five years ago) link
That was '75, as per the photo of him posing with the Jaws mechanical shark (postrelease). So likely too early for Autumn Sonata (and I don't think IB the actress wd've been into a summer of rehearsals).
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 18:11 (five years ago) link
In fact I'm pretty sure I read in Images that when production started on Sonata Ingmar's attitude was "What the hell is she doing?"
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 18 July 2018 18:13 (five years ago) link
IB did not like direct sunlight! He was perfectly clear about this in interviews. There's no way he could've existed in LA, Babs or no Babs,
― Josefa, Thursday, 19 July 2018 04:13 (five years ago) link
Saw the anticommunist thriller This Can't Happen Here at MoMA, which he suppressed during his life as an outlier he regretted making. Quite mediocre indeed, but nicely shot by Gunnar Fischer and has some sporadically funny stunt work. Notable for Donald Duck's only cameo in a Bergman film (surely?).
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 10 September 2018 00:57 (five years ago) link
When I saw it last week I thought it had a certain amount of overlap with the other relationship dramas Bergman was making at this time. The only difference is that the relationships suddenly have international geopolitical significance. If anyone else had made it, it would have been dismissed as third-rate Hitchcock.
Jan Holmberg of the Ingmar Bergman Foundation introduced the National Gallery of Art screening last week; did he or anyone else introduce your screening?
― Accattony! Accattoni! Accattoné! (j.lu), Monday, 10 September 2018 01:12 (five years ago) link
no, it's actually running for a week at the museum
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 10 September 2018 01:30 (five years ago) link
...but i see Holmberg was there for the first show
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 10 September 2018 11:49 (five years ago) link
There's a series starting here soon. Very excited--just got a ticket for Liv Ullman introducing Shame.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 9 October 2018 15:02 (five years ago) link
seeing Smiles of a Summer Night in a theater full of people aged 65+, mostly couples, made me appreciate it a lot more.
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 30 October 2018 02:36 (five years ago) link
saw The Seventh Seal in a theater for the first time on Monday and got the Criterion box in the mail yesterday. a theater here is showing most of his movies in chronological order over the course of two years and I haven't missed a single one, so I'm caught up on most of the early work up thru the mid-50s (with some blindspots).
anyway, I haven't seen any of these. what should I watch first?
A Ship to IndaWaiting WomenA Lesson in LoveDreamsBrink of LifeThe Devil's EyeThrough a Glass DarklyWinter LightThe SilenceAll These WomenHour of the WolfShameThe RiteThe Passion of AnnaFaro DocumentThe TouchScenes from a MarriageThe Magic FluteThe Serpent's EggFaro Document 1979From the Life of the MarionettesAfter the RehearsalSaraband
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 21 November 2018 19:22 (five years ago) link
well, the earliest masterwork on this list is Through a Glass Darkly
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 21 November 2018 19:28 (five years ago) link
I was thinking that or Brink of Life. Going thru that list above, I realized I've only seen two of his 1960s films (Persona and The Virgin Spring).
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 21 November 2018 19:31 (five years ago) link
it wd make sense to watch
Through a Glass DarklyWinter LightThe Silence
whenever you get to them
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 21 November 2018 19:34 (five years ago) link
(consecutively, i mean)
Hour of the Wolf and Shame are his horror and sf films respectively, a good one-two punch of late black and white Bergman
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 21 November 2018 20:11 (five years ago) link
i don't really think of Shame as sf, anymore than i do The Sacrifice.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 21 November 2018 20:39 (five years ago) link
I'm trying to sell it to the kids, Morbs
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 21 November 2018 20:42 (five years ago) link
I love Shame, if it's possible to write such a thing. The scenes in the boat...
― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 21 November 2018 20:43 (five years ago) link
I had no idea Bergman ever did anything close to sf - Shame is part of a trilogy as well, right?
gonna start with the first trilogy, thanks morbs
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 21 November 2018 21:00 (five years ago) link
Saw Persona for the fifth or sixth time last night, part of the Lightbox's big series--not utterly depressing. Between Shame and The Passion of Anna, both of which screened last week, I prefer The Passion of Anna. I've got Fanny and Alexander on the weekend, first time in many years.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 21 November 2018 21:10 (five years ago) link
I have Passion of Anna from an old Bergman DVD box. Been a few years since I've seen it, but I remember liking it more than a lot of his more high profile work.
Love F&A, perfect viewing for this time of year.
― circa1916, Wednesday, 21 November 2018 21:14 (five years ago) link
Fanny and Alexander is the one Bergman project I really didn't like. I've only seen the theatrical cut, but for one, the title is misleading- the movie's all about Alexander. also, this is a personal thing rather than a fault in the work, but I have a really hard time watching movies about paternalistic captors (Gaslight, Martha, The Night of the Hunter). I find them intensely uncomfortable to watch but more importantly very tedious, maybe because there's no suspense. imo a movie like Rosemary's Baby works brilliantly because we're kept in the dark until the very end.
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 21 November 2018 21:27 (five years ago) link
You find The Night of the Hunter ... tedious?!
― I Never Promised You A Hose Harden (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 November 2018 21:29 (five years ago) link
tedious to watch. I like all of the films I mentioned (except F&A), but I find them immensely frustrating to sit through because I have such a burning hatred for the villains. not sure why, nothing like this ever happened to me, maybe I don't find the archetype very interesting. Robert Mitchum is just so vile in that movie.
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 21 November 2018 21:49 (five years ago) link
he had VILE and EVIL tattooed on his toes
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 21 November 2018 21:53 (five years ago) link
Sexily vile.
― I Never Promised You A Hose Harden (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 November 2018 21:54 (five years ago) link
Watching the "Trilogy" first is the correct answer, but I would add...
Dreams is worthwhile, it has a slightly different look for Bergman - more lush I'd say - and excellent performances.
Brink of Life has almost a Hollywood-type structure, though it goes places Hollywood probably wouldn't have in 1958. Recommended.
From the late period, I found From the Life of Marionettes quite interesting, at least stylistically
Dud: The Touch, The Serpent's Egg - his only two English-language films, which may not be coincidental
All These Women is such an oddity in his oeuvre, I don't know whether to call it a dud or a curiosity
― Josefa, Wednesday, 21 November 2018 22:54 (five years ago) link
watched The Silence tonight, as soon as I saw that guy on the ladder with the fixed expression of goofy horror/surprise, I was sure this was Bergman's Fellini parody: the dwarves, the male lover holding his shoe by the laces, the setting, the debauchery. I was sure I'd find a whole subsection on the wiki page about this, but nope - lumped in as one of these modernist films, of a piece with Marienbad and Belle du Jour (!). no way. it's such a break for Bergman and an obvious comment on the Italian directors... anyway, The Silence was great and better than all of Fellini's films combined.
― flappy bird, Monday, 14 January 2019 05:24 (five years ago) link
now reading that his following film, All These Women, is a straight up 8 1/2 parody
buy the box people
― flappy bird, Monday, 14 January 2019 05:27 (five years ago) link