Woody Allen On Bergman and Antonioni

While I realize not all of my Moon In The Gutter readers share my love for Woody Allen, I thought this link was well worth posting. Here is a really nice new interview with Allen from Time.Com where he discusses the recent passing of both Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni. It's humorous, heartfelt and an honest look at both men through the eyes of a fellow artist and major fan.
On a totally unrelated note I recently came across this great little quote by filmmaker Neil Labute on Allen's MANHATTAN, from thereeler.com, which is why I am posting this picture. MANHATTAN might be my favorite Allen picture with Mariel Hemingway's turn as Tracy being one of my favorite performances of the seventies. Anyway, I liked the quote and I liked this little interview with Woody on the passing of two giants. Give it a look:

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1648917,00.html

Artist and Muse #25

PERSONA (1966)
HOUR OF THE WOLF (1968)
SHAME (1968)
THE PASSION OF ANNA (1969)
CRIES AND WHISPERS (1972)
SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE (1973)
FACE TO FACE (1976)
THE SERPENT'S EGG (1977)
AUTUMN SONATA (1979)
PRIVATE CONFESSIONS (1996)
FAITHLESS (2000)
SARABAND (2003)

Amplifier Article #1: Ingmar Bergman's Face To Face

The original version of this article can be found at this link. The following is my slightly revamped version for Moon In The Gutter.

The passing of the great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman earlier this year has no doubt drawn many newcomers to his vast body of work available on DVD. While many of the late master's best films are currently available, several of his finest works remain extremely hard to find. One of the most notable of these films is his masterful 1976 feature ANSIKTE MOT ANSIKTE (FACE TO FACE), although thankfully it appears that Criterion are currently at works on a DVD of it for 2008.

FACE TO FACE started out life as a Swedish mini-series, much in the same way that two of Bergman's most well regarded films had, SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE (1973) and FANNY AND ALEXANDER (1982). The television version of FACE TO FACE, starring legendary Bergman muse Liv Ullmann, appeared originally in April 1976 to much acclaim as a 200 minute four part series. Bergman simultaneously cut the film down to a much slimmer 135 minute running time for its 1976 theatrical release.
The film, like many of Bergman's greatest works, focuses on an individual whose life and grip on reality is slowly slipping away. The film's leading character, played brilliantly by Ullmann, is a well regarded psychiatrist who is realizing that she has spent so much time delving into other people's psychosis that she has forgotten who she actually is. With a supporting cast featuring several Bergman regulars, including a remarkable Gunnar Bjornstrand and a young Lena Olin, FACE TO FACE is one of the great seventies films focusing on the loss of one's own identity in an increasingly cold and industrial world.
Chief among the film's many attributes is the remarkable cinematography by Sven Nykvist, who gives what could have been a very bland looking film an extremely striking and well thought out look. The Oscar winning Nykvist had just shot Louis Malle's underrated BLACK MOON (1975) when he shot FACE TO FACE, and it is to his credit that he was able to follow up Malle's surreal and strange film with Bergman's much more grounded and realistic work.

Also extremely noteworthy is the sound design of Owe Svensson, who manages to give this very quiet film a real spacious and at times warm soundscape. FACE TO FACE is a model on how a completely character driven piece should sound, and Svensson's work is the equal of his more celebrated design for Bergman's own CRIES AND WHISPERS (1972).
The cast is especially fine as well. Ullman has never been more brilliant than she is in this complicated role, and Olin is especially memorable in her brief screen debut here. Bergman would remember the talented Swedish beauty, and he would later cast her in his masterful later works FANNY AND ALEXANDER and AFTER THE REHEARSAL (1984).
The film was a major success when it came out, garnering two Academy Award nominations, including one for Bergman's direction and another for Ullmann's fearless performance. The film also won the Golden Globe's best foreign film award, and Ullmann was honored by many of the top film awards, including the Los Angeles and New York Critics Awards.
FACE TO FACE has had a troubling history on the Home Video market. Paramount is notorious for their mishandling of classic films in their library, and Bergman's great film has astonishingly never been given a proper home video release. Outside of a couple of foreign VHS versions, the only way to see the film has been through grey market versions or the occasional lucky theatrical screening. Hopefully the upcoming Criterion version will include both Bergman's original television version, as well as the shorter theatrical cut, as they did on their exceptional releases for SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE and FANNY AND ALEXANDER.
The passing of Ingmar Bergman marked a great loss for the cinema world, and it is time to make sure his work is preserved for future generations to see. FACE TO FACE remains one of Bergman's greatest, if most under seen works, and is chief among his films in need of a quality re-release. Hopefully the rumor on the upcoming Criterion edition is true, and this powerful film will be available again soon for film fans to see.

Swedish Sensationsfilms: A Clandestine History of Sex, Thrillers and Kicker Cinema Reviewed

An enormously entertaining and extremely informative book on an often-overlooked film movement, Swedish Sensationsfilms: A Clandestine History of Sex, Thrillers and Kicker Cinema is one of the first must-have books on film from this young decade. Written with a real love for the subject by Swedish born Daniel Ekeroth, Swedish Sensationsfilms will prove to be 300 pages of pure joy for fans who hold names like Christina Lindberg, Bo A. Vibenius and Gio Petre already in the highest of esteem, as well as film-buffs on the lookout for a group of films that very well might have alluded them up till now.
Kicking off with a terrifically engaging and humorous introduction by Ekeroth, writing from his Stockholm summer home, Swedish Sensationsfilms is a breezy and compulsively readable book that is hard to put down once it’s cracked open. Setting his book up like an encyclopedia, with each page highlighting a film, Ekeroth does an excellent job throughout providing background information, as well as a critical reaction, to the well over two hundred films. Like the wondrous Tohill and Tombs work Immoral Tales from the mid-nineties, Swedish Sensationsfilms sets its sights on paying tribute to a group of actors, films and filmmakers that have been vastly under-discussed up till now. Groundbreaking films ranging from Mac Ahlberg’s I, A Woman series to Vibenius’ astonishing Breaking Point are covered, as well as the legendary Swedish-shot productions of New York director Joe Sarno. Ekeroth also delves into ultra-obscure works like Calvin Floyd’s Dracula and Frankenstein productions and Arne Mattsson’s The Wax Doll. In other words, Ekeroth’s book is jammed with one discovery to be made after another, and I can’t imagine anyone reading Swedish Sensationsfilms who won’t come away with a major itch to track down many of the films within its well-illustrated pages.
While the main portion of the book is made up of Ekeroth’s film reviews, there are some glorious supplements as well, including a “Glossary of Curious Swedish Culture”, a biographical “Rogues Gallery” and Ekeroth’s own twenty essential films from the book to track down. Best of all is a beautiful interview with Swedish Sensationsfilms greatest icon Christina Lindberg, who sums up the spirit of the book when she says, “I look back with genuine joy…I would never deny being in those movies…I just had a blast.”
Published by Bazillion Points, and featuring an excellent English translation by Magnus Henriksson, Swedish Sensationsfilms: A Clandestine History of Sex, Thrillers and Kicker Cinema can be pre-ordered from its official publishing site or Amazon. I highly recommend it for fans of Swedish Cinema (and yes, Ingmar Bergman is featured as well) or just exploratory cinema-buffs in general who are hungry for something different and more daring than anything playing at their local multiplex.

My Favorite Closing Shots: Ingmar Bergman's Hour of the Wolf (1968)

Images From My All Time Favorite Films: Bo Arne Vibenius' Thriller: A Cruel Picture (They Call Her One Eye) 1974

Depressed and disappointed are the two words that describe my spirits right now. One of the main things causing these two feelings is the fact that I am going to have to miss Christina Lindberg's appearance at the Cinema Wasteland Convention this weekend. Last year when it was announced I promised myself I wouldn't miss it, but luck just hasn't been with me as of late and circumstances have made it an impossibility. Anyone who might be going who would want to become one of my instant best friends for life can hook me up with an autographed photo (by the way I am not joking, please spot a brother a picture) if they have it in their hearts.
To celebrate a historic appearance I must miss here is a tribute to Christina's most legendary film. Ingmar Bergman's one time assistant director Bo Arne Vibenius' Thriller - en grym film is still quite unlike any film ever made. Part hard exploitation film, part art-film and all around unique, Vibenius' film is one strange and disturbing experience. It's also totally unforgettable and much of this is due to Christina Lindberg's mesmerizing turn as One-Eye, surely one of the most iconic performances in all of modern cinema. Enjoy the stills and, once again, brighten a blogger's day next week with an inscribed photo from the unmatchable Lindberg.

Images From My All Time Favorite Films: Ingmar Bergman's Shame (1968)