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• Bergman

  2007-08-28 3:11AM / 標準BLOG / 會員可以看
  3個評論

  As many of you have heard by now Ingmar Bergman passed away recently. This is particularly poignant for me as one of the first film classes I took in college was all about Ingmar Bergman's films. In a way, he was my introduction into the possibilities of film.
  
  Some of his images still stick in my brain. Rooted in theater, he always played with the theatrical barrier of cinema. In SUMMER WITH MONICA, I remember one particular shot of Monica sitting in a cafe, estranged from her boyfriend Harry, flirting with a stranger. She turns and looks directly into the camera, daring us to judge her. The camera tracks in slowly and all the lights in the cafe dim around her except for the key light on her. It is a haunting moment that opened up the possibilities of filmmaking for me.
  
  Again, in WILD STRAWBERRIES, having looked over his life, Bergman ends with a CU of Victor Sjostrom looking out over the shore of a lake at sunset, finally finding peace: an incredible visual answer to one man's question about his life.
  
  But, his films were not always "enjoyable" and often, they made you feel distinctly uncomfortable (THE SILENCE, PERSONA). But, I realized that what I was watching was someone tapping into the other possibilities of cinema. He was inventing new things, playing with narrative and experiential rules. American cinema is so focused on plot and cause and effect, that watching his films challenged what I'd been watching since I grew up. It was as liberating as it was difficult to understand the cause of my discomfort with his films.
  
  Even now, my work is still very much American and rooted in narrative and coherent experience (at least while I'm learning how to break the rules) but Bergman showed me what is possible. He is an inspiration and his work is a testament to his unrelenting artistic courage.