April 11, 2009
April 07, 2009
nail in the boot
Clip: An eager soldier volunteers to run a few kilometers to get some help for his ambushed comrades. [Making videos YouTube friendly really hurts quality. Sorry.]
I wanted to show this clip because the reputation of Kalatozov's later, famous films is centered around his cinematographer Urusevsky. The formal daring of Nail in the Boot and Salt for Svanetia however make his later visual style seem positively restrained. His camera, his lighting, his themes, his rhythm, especially his editing were all boldly forged decades before The Cranes are Flying and The Unmailed Letter. Kalatozov deserves a bit more attention than he receives -- not just for his later films, where he is overshadowed by Urusevsky, but for his earlier films, which are overshadowed by the heavyweight Soviets who had been playing in this formal arena for years. Nail in the Boot was banned, and I don't believe anybody had seen it for years (decades?) after it was made. I haven't seen anything from his middle period yet (between Boot and Cranes), but I am a willing explorer waiting for the means.
Kalatozov discussion open. Please submit your comments.
I wanted to show this clip because the reputation of Kalatozov's later, famous films is centered around his cinematographer Urusevsky. The formal daring of Nail in the Boot and Salt for Svanetia however make his later visual style seem positively restrained. His camera, his lighting, his themes, his rhythm, especially his editing were all boldly forged decades before The Cranes are Flying and The Unmailed Letter. Kalatozov deserves a bit more attention than he receives -- not just for his later films, where he is overshadowed by Urusevsky, but for his earlier films, which are overshadowed by the heavyweight Soviets who had been playing in this formal arena for years. Nail in the Boot was banned, and I don't believe anybody had seen it for years (decades?) after it was made. I haven't seen anything from his middle period yet (between Boot and Cranes), but I am a willing explorer waiting for the means.
Kalatozov discussion open. Please submit your comments.
April 04, 2009
dream log, 4/4
gaston and I were talking about dreams. It's just past 5am, and thanks to suffocating under my blanket I have awoken and want to get this concept down before it's gone. It has inspired in me a movie idea.
In my dream I had thought I was watching Marie, a Hungarian Legend, although this obviously wasn't the case. The film starred Douglass Montgomery, Frank Morgan, and Rose Hobart. It's about a man who looks back on his life and, in particular, a woman he had loved 34 years earlier and the part she played in all his crucial life events since then (psychologically -- he has not seen her since).
This wasn't in the dream, but I thought of it immediately after waking up: it was moderately reminiscent of Kalatozov's The Red Tent, and perhaps the man was putting himself on trial and felt guilty for a number of complex emotional reasons about his life and the part his lost love and the various people since then have played in it. Not sure how well this would work, but it would be cool.
I have no idea why I would mash so many different movies together in my mind and think it Marie and, further, think that it got better with each viewing. Now it's another idea I would like to see made.
I am going back to sleep -- will discover if this is grammatically correct tomorrow.
In my dream I had thought I was watching Marie, a Hungarian Legend, although this obviously wasn't the case. The film starred Douglass Montgomery, Frank Morgan, and Rose Hobart. It's about a man who looks back on his life and, in particular, a woman he had loved 34 years earlier and the part she played in all his crucial life events since then (psychologically -- he has not seen her since).
This wasn't in the dream, but I thought of it immediately after waking up: it was moderately reminiscent of Kalatozov's The Red Tent, and perhaps the man was putting himself on trial and felt guilty for a number of complex emotional reasons about his life and the part his lost love and the various people since then have played in it. Not sure how well this would work, but it would be cool.
I have no idea why I would mash so many different movies together in my mind and think it Marie and, further, think that it got better with each viewing. Now it's another idea I would like to see made.
I am going back to sleep -- will discover if this is grammatically correct tomorrow.
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