New Experience
Last night I got home from my night class, dead tired (not sure why) and feeling like a cold was coming on, so I plopped in front of the TV and watched most of Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" and all of "Wild Strawberries." Reading subtitles for three hours didn't make my head feel any better when it was over with, but I'm glad for the experience, having never watched any Bergman films before but often thinking I should.
"The Seventh Seal" is still a mystery to me (I assume it's about trying to escape death and its inevitability, but obviously there is more to it), so I'll comment on the second. It's a very moving film not because of any sentimentality but because of its humanity; unlike many movies, I didn't have any trouble believing in the existence of this old man, even in what he dreamed. It is full of visual metaphors that would take several viewings to get; my favorite was the clocks with no hands. What does it mean? Not sure, but it will remain with me forever. It had a surreal quality but an also very real one. The young people he meets were so charming; the dream of his parents at the end so calming and resolving; his daughter-in-law's struggle so fitting; her and her husband's resolution so satisfying without hysteria.
As is often said, no one would make a movie like this today. And I am reminded that all art is an act of faith. We commit ourselves to objectivity our vision, not knowing how long it will take, how much it will take us away from "life" and others, how it will be perceived, if there will be any quality to it, if any one will over take the time to experience it. This is to say nothing of the money aspect; films are expensive to make and somebody's got to pay; other art forms may not take an up-front cash influx but money's lost somewhere in the process.
It takes faith to start and maintain and finish anything, but I think art takes a special measure. It took me eight years to finish and publish "Traveling Through," and I don't know when the others will see publication. I want to start "Borders" (working title of the next one) but it needs some research and I know now how much time writing a novel takes, and this one will not be appropriate for OakTara.
A friend who reads fiction on the radio is going to read my novel starting Thursday. Perhaps that will give a bigger audience. She wants to interview me on Monday night to play the interview before the reading. HUMMMMM. I will have to make it a special effort to hear her read it since she is so kind to do it. She, like many others, likes the book a great deal. I know it is good; doing my own publicity is still hard.
"The Seventh Seal" is still a mystery to me (I assume it's about trying to escape death and its inevitability, but obviously there is more to it), so I'll comment on the second. It's a very moving film not because of any sentimentality but because of its humanity; unlike many movies, I didn't have any trouble believing in the existence of this old man, even in what he dreamed. It is full of visual metaphors that would take several viewings to get; my favorite was the clocks with no hands. What does it mean? Not sure, but it will remain with me forever. It had a surreal quality but an also very real one. The young people he meets were so charming; the dream of his parents at the end so calming and resolving; his daughter-in-law's struggle so fitting; her and her husband's resolution so satisfying without hysteria.
As is often said, no one would make a movie like this today. And I am reminded that all art is an act of faith. We commit ourselves to objectivity our vision, not knowing how long it will take, how much it will take us away from "life" and others, how it will be perceived, if there will be any quality to it, if any one will over take the time to experience it. This is to say nothing of the money aspect; films are expensive to make and somebody's got to pay; other art forms may not take an up-front cash influx but money's lost somewhere in the process.
It takes faith to start and maintain and finish anything, but I think art takes a special measure. It took me eight years to finish and publish "Traveling Through," and I don't know when the others will see publication. I want to start "Borders" (working title of the next one) but it needs some research and I know now how much time writing a novel takes, and this one will not be appropriate for OakTara.
A friend who reads fiction on the radio is going to read my novel starting Thursday. Perhaps that will give a bigger audience. She wants to interview me on Monday night to play the interview before the reading. HUMMMMM. I will have to make it a special effort to hear her read it since she is so kind to do it. She, like many others, likes the book a great deal. I know it is good; doing my own publicity is still hard.
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