My three beautiful notorious Swedish idols for you

On Walpurgisnacht:

Happy Walpurgisnacht, my Sweet Ones!






Mwah, ... 

This one goes out to all

My wonderful "bad girl" Swedish ladies:  Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo, and Harriet Andersson as Monika in Summer with Monika.













xxxoooxxx

Summer with Monika is an

Outstanding film for many different reasons, but foremost amongst them has to be the magnificent and luminescent photography by Gunnar Fischer.  It is a cold and crisp and glowing world that Fischer has captured to tell Ingmar Bergman's tale of young doomed love.

Crisp is a crucial word to describe this film.  In terms of temperature and texture and refreshment. It is a word and theme that appears to inform every single element; from story, art design, photography, and direction, etc, ...

This crispness is also essential to the film's longevity.  It is a film experience that has retained all the same snap and bite that must have exhilarated audiences back in 1953.  Moreover, it is a film that can still speak to young audiences today.

And yes, the shot that Fischer, Bergman, and their star, Harriet Andersson create, wherein Ms Andersson stares directly in to the camera as the light fades behind her and the jazz number mixes with music more sinister is one of the greatest moments of cinema.  Godard copied it in Vivre sa vie.  And scores of other directors have also tried to recreate that moment.  Remember, too, that both Godard and Bergman were romantically involved with their stars when they made these films.  And, yes it comes as no surprise to me that this film would have such a huge impact and influence on Woody Allen.

Summer with Monika is absolutely essential cinema that is just as special today as it was then.  It is available for sale or for rental through iTunes, and Criterion have made superb dvd and bluray versions, as well.








Mwah, ... 

I am not really all that jazzed up

About Obama's Inauguration today.  Not because I am displeased with Obama at the moment.  In fact, I have been supremely impressed with his leadership since winning re-election.  I am just more interested in the actual policy and politics of his presidency right now than the ritual show and drama.

I still do not think he will actually be able to get any ground-breaking or essential policy through an obstructionist GOP House, and I will not believe anything will be done about gun control until I actually see it.

But, he has forced the GOP to cave twice already.  The trillion dollar coin thing is a fantastic gimmick that he can keep in his back pocket if the GOP get all hostage mad again, and it has actually been quite fun watching Fox News lately, as a parade of GOP meat puppets splutter and bloviate incomprehensibly while Obama/Biden/Pelosi/Reid continue to hoodwink a fractured messed-up GOP-controlled House of Representatives.  I also think Lew will not be confirmed, and that Hagel will.

No, my favorite political story of the moment is the three day Come to Jesus confab that the GOP held last week where the Big Important Bidness Types told them to stop dicking around with the debt ceiling, and a pollster instructed them that rape is a four-letter word, and to never never never ever say it again out loud in public.  Jeez-Louise, right? Of course, they all still believe in Magical Ladyparts, but they should keep those beliefs to themselves, according to some In the Loop/Thick of It/Veep Tory Toddler Whiz Kid straight out of Dartmouth, I am sure.  What a bunch of hateful morons.  Really.

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I am going to skip the Inauguration, and Fox News' coverage of it.  Today, I am going to clean and organize the computer room, work more on a large movie roundup post and hunker down with three films today:  Bergman's Summer with Monika, the documentary Searching for Sugar Man, and (for MLK day) Wattstax, or Respect Yourself The Stax Records Story.

Happy MLK Day everyone.  I hope we all have a splendid Monday!

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xxxoooxxx