newcritics - Latest Comments in Bergman: The Last of the Great Ones

Re: Bergman: The Last of the Great Ones

Weepingsam — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 21:38:10 -0000

"Has Oshima made anything since Taboo?"

I think he had a serious stroke in the early 00s, and has been in very bad health... it's notable how many of the filmmakers of that generation, in their late 70s and 80s, are still active - Godard, Resnais, Chabrol, Rivette, Rohmer, Marker - all putting out films in the last year or two... de Oliveira keeps them coming; Kon Ichikawa, well into his 90s, is still making films...

Re: Bergman: The Last of the Great Ones

sean — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 03:54:44 -0000

"Smiles Of A Summer Night" is the Bergman for me. Also: "Shame," "Monika," "Persona" and probably "The Silence" But there is also alot of things that seem stilted or dated ("The Seventh Seal," the death/nightmare imagery in "Wild Strawberries," and "The Hour Of The Wolf")or needlessly pious.
I agree with weepingsam: Hou, Lynch are still young enough to break new forms/modes, Marker's always in search of a subject, and maybe DeOlivera can live to 150. (Has Oshima made anything since Taboo?)

Re: Bergman: The Last of the Great Ones

Charlie Brown — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 23:51:58 -0000

Here's a little grenade thrown into this breast fondling fest.

Saw Autumn Sonata when it first came out and despised it so much I refused to see another Bergman film except by accident. Kinda like getting sick the first time you drink some putrid alcohol when you're a kid and swear off that flavor the rest of your life.

Probably the first "art" film I saw and did not like its effect. The only word I remember to describe it was "manipulative".

From the little I know about the guy he seemed to be honest to himself, that's achievement.

Re: Bergman: The Last of the Great Ones

Charlie Brown — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 23:43:04 -0000

Saw Autumn Sonata when it first came out and despised it so much I refused to see another Bergman film except by accident. Kinda like getting sick the first time you drink some putrid alcohol when you're a kid and swear off that flavor the rest of your life.

Probably the first "art" film I saw and I did not like its effect. The only word I remember to describe it was "manipulative".

Re: Bergman: The Last of the Great Ones

Manny Maher — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 22:30:50 -0000

I was much more sorry to hear about the passing of Antonioni. He was so much more fun than Bergman, IMHO.
What could be sexier than Blow Up? What could be dreamier than The Passenger?
But I agree with Weepingsam --these old guys were great, but there are lots more to take their place.

Re: Bergman: The Last of the Great Ones

Weepingsam — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 22:00:12 -0000

I have to take exception to the idea that Bergman was the "last of the great ones" though. He was certainly great (as was Antonioni), and artists of that caliber are unique - but they were not the only filmmakers of that quality, by a long shot. Godard, Rivette, Rohmer, Oshima, Herzog - they're every one as thrilling and powerful, and influential and historically important as Antonioni or Bergman. And those are just my favorites - a similar case could be probably be made for Resnais, Marker, Chabrol, Wiseman, de Oliveira, at least... a magnificent crop of filmmakers emerged between 1945-60.... And the generation after that - Lynch and Hou and Kiarostami and Scorsese, etc, - has a nice body of work as well...

Re: Bergman: The Last of the Great Ones

OutOfContext — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:33:06 -0000

I saw that Antonioni died as well. When I was younger, Bergman was it for me. As I get older, the Italians, Fellini and Antonioni are who I end up watching more. Still, Wild Strawberries, Winter Light, The Silence, Persona and The Hour of the Wolf are endlessly re-watchable to me.
As for the future, David Lynch lives in the same part of my brain as all the aforementioned artists.

Re: Bergman: The Last of the Great Ones

Dan Leo — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:07:16 -0000

And now I just discovered that Michelangelo Antonioni has died; when I wrote the above piece I thought that he already had passed away, and then it turns out he died later on the same day as Bergman. Well, I'll leave it to others to write about Antonioni, although I will say that La Notte is an amazing movie.

New great artists will step up. They always do.

Re: Bergman: The Last of the Great Ones

Kathleen Maher — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:34:34 -0000

Hear, hear. Great movies like great books require a little work. It takes two to dance.
That's one way art works. The artist creates a rhythm, a story, a world, and will eagerly lead you through it. One wrong step or even a misplaced emphasis from the artist and the whole show either tumbles or stumbles. But the partner needs to pay attention, and really be up and ready to go with the flow.
And while I rarely enjoyed Bergman's movies, and I don't think the truth, which I recognized, threw me off, he was more than brilliant. His dances are rich and complex and we're lucky to have them.

Re: Bergman: The Last of the Great Ones

Kevin Wolf — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:50:32 -0000

Maybe the 20th century is now well and truly over.

The 21st is shaping up to be just as problematic and we go into it without any artists of this caliber to help us, in their various ways, with understanding, or knowledge, or solace.

That is, I don't see anybody stepping up.

Re: Bergman: The Last of the Great Ones

estiv — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:25:46 -0000

I'm glad you mentioned "truth" first. It hit me last night that under his great gifts for cinematography, screenwriting, directing actors, etc., all talents on display in his work, there was a core of integrity. And that was what made his work special. Being human he was not right all the time, but he was nearly always honest about what he felt. Extremely rare, and not show biz at all. When people say that there's really no difference between entertainment and art, Bergman stands as a rebuttal.