tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573438243257723411.post7057297355370583269..comments2024-01-20T03:22:00.102-05:00Comments on Criterion Reflections: Wild Strawberries (1957) - #139David Blakesleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167200509158903679noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573438243257723411.post-37736670974815549902010-12-15T23:34:18.986-05:002010-12-15T23:34:18.986-05:00Too many years :) To be more precise, it was 1994 ...Too many years :) To be more precise, it was 1994 when I saw it. I wish I could remember why I found it so appealing back then.<br /><br />I've seen a few Sjostroms, both Swedish and American, and I think I've liked most of them (He Who Gets Slapped is a bit too weird and is really only palatable because of Lon Chaney). If Criterion were to assemble an Eclipse box of some of his extant works, I'd pay good money for it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573438243257723411.post-54727107950597044372010-12-15T11:26:43.833-05:002010-12-15T11:26:43.833-05:00One other thought I want to add here. In October, ...One other thought I want to add here. In October, I reviewed The Magician as a new release over on CriterionCast.com, and noted that Wild Strawberries was due for a Blu-ray overhaul now that The Seventh Seal had gone through the upgrade. I think a great new supplemental feature to add would be some kind of retrospective on Victor Sjostrom, either a biographical documentary or one of the films he made/starred in. Or both! Sjostrom is such a central figure and apparently revered within Swedish cinema, but I have never seen any of his work. I think Criterion ought to be able to swing the rights to something he did way back when without too much difficulty.David Blakesleehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12167200509158903679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573438243257723411.post-27702329383134274522010-12-15T11:23:21.569-05:002010-12-15T11:23:21.569-05:00James, without getting too nosy, how many years ha...James, without getting too nosy, how many years has it been since you were 19? :) I ask because I think that Wild Strawberries is the kind of film that can hit us in different ways based on where we're at in life when we first watch it. What stood out to you as your main reason for liking it back then? <br /><br />Most of the characters present a more sympathetic side than the usual austere detachment and strained repression we typically get from Bergman. There are even notes of sweetness to be found as tensions diminish toward the end, even if they seem only momentarily resolved. In my most recent viewing, the marital conflicts between Marianne and Evald fascinated me more than Dr. Borg's introspections. Even though my marriage is considerably happier than theirs, that stage of life seems more vital and easier for me to relate to than the old man's... but I know that phase is drawing ever closer.David Blakesleehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12167200509158903679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573438243257723411.post-61407378465136911012010-12-15T08:50:53.486-05:002010-12-15T08:50:53.486-05:00This was my first Bergman, which I saw when I was ...This was my first Bergman, which I saw when I was 19, and I liked it so much that it still baffles me a bit as to why I've liked so few of the other Bergman films I've seen since then. I have a similar relationship to Wings of Desire, which I also first saw around that age and loved, and have since disliked almost everything else I've seen by Wenders (and have cooled towards Wings of Desire too).<br /><br />My records indicate I've got Wild Strawberries on VHS somewhere, taped off TV, so I presume I've seen it at least once since that first time... or maybe I just taped without watching, maybe I just wanted it for the tape archive. Either way it's been a lot of years since I would've last seen it, and I wonder how I'd react to it were I to revisit it now...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573438243257723411.post-30136430670016547062010-12-14T23:01:29.483-05:002010-12-14T23:01:29.483-05:00Wow! I love the immediacy of your feedback almost ...Wow! I love the immediacy of your feedback almost as much as the content of your comment! Nice job with that, I'm truly impressed by your mastery of film history and your powers of recollection. I think you've mounted some worthy challenges there - a brief spin over to IMDb will help to see if anyone's managed to beat the ten-month threshold that Bergman established (plus, he also direct <i>four stage plays</i> in 1957!) <br /><br />Winter Light is an incredible piece of work, no doubt about that. I have a few other Bergmans to get through before I revisit that gem, but I get what you're saying. The sparseness and intensity of the dialog is so amazing. But as for Wild Strawberries, you're right. The way it puts a whole life in retrospect, basically forcing us to reckon with our own versions of youthful disappointments, opportunities lost for whatever reason, owning up to our frailties and arrogance... to nitpick with Bergman or fault him on some fine point or technical level, or just blow it off as irrelevant... well, that's just sad. I wouldn't want to be that person.David Blakesleehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12167200509158903679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5573438243257723411.post-36827232454058470732010-12-14T22:41:17.722-05:002010-12-14T22:41:17.722-05:00I'm not going to beat Bergman, but I hate to l...I'm not going to beat Bergman, but I hate to let such an intriguing challenge go by the wayside. I think the directors that come closest off the top of my head are Preston Sturges in 1941 (Sullivan's Travels, The Lady Eve), Alfred Hitchcock in 1958-59 (Vertigo, North by Northwest), and Billy Wilder in 1959-60 (Some Like it Hot, The Apartment). Oh, and Coppola in '72 with Godfather II and The Conversation, that wasn't too shabby.<br /><br />Anyway, I love Wild Strawberries, even though Winter Light probably just overtook it as my favorite Bergman film. I can't imagine anyone not being moved on a personal level by this movie.bzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15236841988720327212noreply@blogger.com