My Friend Ivan Lapshin
It's been 15 days since I watched this movie, but I haven't found the time to write anything up. It actually took two attempts to get through it. The first attempt was a couple days before the time I finished it. I watched about twenty minutes, and decided to cut it off. It just felt meandering and the overlapping dialogue was bothering me; I just couldn't focus on everything that needed focusing. I started it over a few days later with determination in my heart. Determination was not needed once the ball started rolling. I was actually drawn in a lot more than I thought I would be after the first try. I didn't realize that the fellow that directed this also directed Hard to be a God, or more likely, I did know but had forgotten. If I'd had that in mind the first time, I would have known what to expect. It's like Altman on Test 200. It's beautiful to look at, but can be maddening in how it flows without a traditional structure, like a paper boat rushing down a creek after a hard rain. It bobs from left to right, occasionally snagging a loose branch before being swept away again in the current. The pace isn't as fast as that, really, but the erratic motion is more how I feel. It doesn't seem to care if you keep up or not, especially if you have to read subtitles, like I think most if not all of us have to. Despite that, or because of it, the film really was able to strike an emotional nerve with me. Like the best Soviet cinema, there is a palpable sensation of doom looming. It looks gorgeous, but expect your feels to be tugged on from somewhere underneath and hidden and in a more existential way. Seeing the way those people are all packed in together and on top of each other just darkens the whole thing too. I really like this film.
It's been 15 days since I watched this movie, but I haven't found the time to write anything up. It actually took two attempts to get through it. The first attempt was a couple days before the time I finished it. I watched about twenty minutes, and decided to cut it off. It just felt meandering and the overlapping dialogue was bothering me; I just couldn't focus on everything that needed focusing. I started it over a few days later with determination in my heart. Determination was not needed once the ball started rolling. I was actually drawn in a lot more than I thought I would be after the first try. I didn't realize that the fellow that directed this also directed Hard to be a God, or more likely, I did know but had forgotten. If I'd had that in mind the first time, I would have known what to expect. It's like Altman on Test 200. It's beautiful to look at, but can be maddening in how it flows without a traditional structure, like a paper boat rushing down a creek after a hard rain. It bobs from left to right, occasionally snagging a loose branch before being swept away again in the current. The pace isn't as fast as that, really, but the erratic motion is more how I feel. It doesn't seem to care if you keep up or not, especially if you have to read subtitles, like I think most if not all of us have to. Despite that, or because of it, the film really was able to strike an emotional nerve with me. Like the best Soviet cinema, there is a palpable sensation of doom looming. It looks gorgeous, but expect your feels to be tugged on from somewhere underneath and hidden and in a more existential way. Seeing the way those people are all packed in together and on top of each other just darkens the whole thing too. I really like this film.