Fanny and Alexander

Not feeling so hot - still dealing with my various health issues from last week. I'm trying another round of the scary, tendon-rupturing antibiotics (totally paranoid that I'm having pain already), and going in for more tests on Thursday night. It was just one of those days. It was hard to get back to work after the long weekend, and even harder when I was dealing with a lot of issues on top of everything. I don't mean to complain - I just sort of have to, because everything that I was dealing with today just put me in a mood of some kind. I wasn't really into today's movie, and I know it was just because I was worried about a lot of things, stressed out, and feeling really sick. I hope that you understand! I don't think I've had to many off days, so please forgive me of this one. :)

Today I watched Fanny and Alexander, directed by Ingmar Bergman in 1982. It's really long, like 3 hours and 8 minutes long. I worked late today, so I didn't really get an early start on this movie. I sort of liked it - there were parts I was so into, but I just couldn't get myself focused on it and I know I need to watch it again sometime to give it a fair chance. 

Bergman Trilogy 1 - The Silence

Last Bergman - not of the project, but for a while. I'm happy to be able to watch some other stuff for a while now. I feel like I got a lot done today, which was good. I picked up some supplies for my vacation. I wanted to get a backpack to take all my camera gear with me while I hike, but they were so expensive and all of them seemed too hardcore for a day hike. I wanted extra loops and straps for my tripod, but there weren't small or cheap day packs that had those features. I ended up getting a trekking pole that is also a monopod - you screw off the top part and it's got some threads for a camera or binoculars. I love getting new gear, and the more gadget-y it is, the better.

Anyway, you aren't here to read about my boring hobbies. I hope. Today I watched another Bergman, The Silence, directed in 1963. It's the last film in his first trilogy, although the films weren't intended to be, he just later noticed the similar themes in all three. I feel like I keep writing the same thing about these films, but they are pretty similar aside from plot. Great plot, great cinematography - I really liked it!

Bergman Trilogy 1 - Winter Light

Ok, here's my late post on Winter Light - I kept forgetting to post about it and then suddenly it was 3am, and I figured whatever I was going to write at that point would be so terrible I should just put it off. I don't feel bad since this is a trilogy, so I give myself a pass.

I wish I could explain my relationship with Bergman and his films. I really like them after while I watch them, and I really like thinking about them afterward. I often don't want to start watching them, though, and I sometimes don't want to write about them at all. It makes me feel like I dislike something about Bergman, but who knows what. I obviously like him, though. I have some sort of Bergman...problem.

Winter Light, which he directed in 1963. I quite liked it - the cinematography was a little more complex and interesting, and it was done very well. The story is interesting as well. I'm not sure why I so like Bergman's films that explore and question religion so much. I'm not a religious person, and perhaps his harsh investigations into religion ring true to me. I always find myself really interested in some of the observations that come out of these movies, and this one was no exception.

Bergman Trilogy 1 - Through a Glass Darkly

In Ebert's book, Ingmar Bergman's first Trilogy is one entry, divided up into a few smaller essays. He put it with the other "B" movies in the alphabet, so I'm watching them as such. I think I'll try to do something similar and make some shorter posts on each of these films, instead of one big post about all of them.

Today at work my co-workers took me  and another co-worker out for a combined birthday lunch, which was actually sort of fun. I work at a non-profit that helps adults with developmental disabilities, and after we ate, all of the participants who work in our restaurant came out to sing happy birthday to us. :) It pretty much made my day.

I came home to watch Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly. I personally found it almost the most accessible of any Bergman I've watched so far. Like, if someone wanted to watch Bergman movies and didn't know where to start, I'd recommend this one. There are other Bergman movies I've watched that may be better, but this one is a great example of his visual style and strange plots without being quite so difficult to follow.

Cries and Whispers

I really am finding it hard to write about today's movie - Cries and Whispers, directed by Ingmar Bergman in 1972. I fully understand why this is a masterpiece, but I just...wasn't in the mood for this. I really appreciate what Bergman did in this movie. To be able to film scenes that capture pain and torment so perfectly is incredible. It makes you feel different after watching it. It just was frustrating to me to have to watch it when I wasn't really wanting to see more depressing and confrontational things. I don't mean this as like, a "Boy do I love to pretend that negative emotions don't exist!" sort of thing. It was more just like, "Man, crap is happening to people I love and it sucks, I'll do whatever I can for them but I need some time to not obsess about bad feelings." I hope that makes some kind of sense.

Unfortnately for me, Bergman's movie is a study of bad feelings. It's hard when I can see a movie that is clearly a great work, but can't say that I liked it. It just didn't work with my mood today, but I could see why it is so famous, and it clearly is a masterpiece. I think the perfect way to put it is that although I loved it, I didn't enjoy it.

The Seventh Seal

It's hard to form coherent, well-thought out sentences when you just want to go to bed early for once. Ingmar Bergman is a little confusing, and it takes me a while to process movies like the one I watched earlier tonight, his 1957 film The Seventh Seal. I feel like I need a few days to think about it, to try to learn about and understand some of the references and allusions I didn't get. Because I need longer to think about this movie, coupled with my need for sleep, this blog will probably stay short. Not because I didn't like the movie, but I don't know what to say about it yet!

Persona

I felt like I had such a long week this week. Today I missed work for some doctor appointments. About a year ago I had major shoulder surgery, and my job and it's repetitive actions (I rarely take breaks) has inflamed it again. A few cortisone shots deep into my joint later, and I'm feeling better, if not really grossed out. My surgeon was making fun of me for having so many piercings and feeling sick at the thought of shots. "I have selective needle fear," I told him seriously. I came home and started to watch today's movie - Persona, directed by Ingmar Bergman in 1966, which furthered my weird mood. 

I don't want to admit this, but I must. I have heard a lot about Bergman. I know what films were inspired by his work and why. I know he is important and to be ooohed and awwwwed over. But I have never watched one of his films. They always sound good, if not upsetting, and I just never find myself in the mood for one. It's always like, "Shall I watch another documentary on climbing Everest, or a Bergman? Eeeeeeh, documentary it is." Weirder movies tend to deeply affect my mood. I don't have an explanation, I just seem to feel the emotions from them for longer, so I tend to put them off, since I know I'll be affected. I mean, after I watched Antichrist, I saw for almost an hour just staring at the black TV screen, thinking, wondering. I subjected Anthony to Eraserhead once, and we both felt sick to our stomachs afterwards for a few hours. We're weird. So Bergman, despite my knowledge that I need to watch his films, always settled at the bottom of my list. Sorry, Film Professors. Sorry, Ingmar Bergman.