IdleRich
IdleRich
Thanks to Octopus for the tip. I watched a couple of films by this guy the other day that came on the same disc - Legend of Suram Fortress and Ashik Kerib - and they were both fantastic. Apparently he was greatly influenced by (and later a friend of) Tarkovsky, dedicating one of the films to him, and I think that's fairly apparent from the stillness of the camera and the way that the scenes appear almost more like paintings than images in a film. Paradjanov however takes this much further than Tarkovsky with the camera often remaining totally unmoving in any given scene, many of which are centred on an arch or doorway or some other feature which usually serves to fix the action such as it is. Speaking is kept to a minimum, particularly in Ashik Kerib where a constant backing of Armenian (I think - I believe that Suram Fortress is based on a Georgian folk tale and Ashik Kerib is based on an Armenian one) folk music adds to the atmosphere. The music in both films is brilliant and reminds me of a lot of Turkish psychedelic folk that I've heard and some of my favourite scenes in Suram Fortress consist of people dancing to it. Most striking in both films is the sumptuous beauty of everything - the rich cloths, the harsh landscapes, the animals especially which are used as mobile decoration, and also the people - and the power and drama this conveys to storylines which are fairly minimal although somewhat hard to follow at times despite this.
I believe that Paradjanov spent a lot of the seventies in gaol, apparently on trumped up charges. Obviously it was pretty easy to offend the wrong people at that time. So, anyone else a fan? What are his other films like? Is there anyone else who does stuff comparable to this?
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews35/films of sergei paradjanov/ suram235-subs.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2387/2059239569_7c5ebbe53b.jpg?v=0
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2274/2060023596_9516cfc050.jpg?v=0
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare/ashik/0.14.30-Kino.jpg
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/a/a2/180px-Ashikkeribposter.jpg
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare/ashik/0.45.31-Rus.jpg
Those images don't really do full justice to the richness of the films.
I believe that Paradjanov spent a lot of the seventies in gaol, apparently on trumped up charges. Obviously it was pretty easy to offend the wrong people at that time. So, anyone else a fan? What are his other films like? Is there anyone else who does stuff comparable to this?
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews35/films of sergei paradjanov/ suram235-subs.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2387/2059239569_7c5ebbe53b.jpg?v=0
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2274/2060023596_9516cfc050.jpg?v=0
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare/ashik/0.14.30-Kino.jpg
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/a/a2/180px-Ashikkeribposter.jpg
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare/ashik/0.45.31-Rus.jpg
Those images don't really do full justice to the richness of the films.