This is just about perfect for what it is, and what it is elevates it to something that can change you.
Life is a matter of stories and also about reflection on self. So all true stories are in some way at least partly about storytelling. The only question is whether the fold has power. Such can have extreme power when things flow more fluidly than you allow your mind to work and does so cinematically. This has that power.
The basic structure is of a vessel of stories, where stories live as parked fragments of life. The "ship" needs a live human to be the viewer of the stories, but because this is reflective, the viewer/listener participates in these fragments as well. But they are not disconnected fragments but story elements that self-assemble in unexpected ways. Some run parallel. Some recount others. Some elaborate, or contain or spawn others. Some negate, affirm, kill. Others baffle, countering those that explain.
This isn't Borges, whose map is revealed. This is a universe of silkworms weaving an incomprehensible wad of threads that intersect, merge, disappear. Sacha Vierny is the cinematographer, and oh what a poet the man is! Its all stories, and constantly spoken, but the images are what matters the spine of the thing is cinematic, leveraging that special ability to hypnotize that only a master of image can throw.
I had not known of this film before now. For some reason, Ruiz's work isn't appreciated and circulated as it should be. Its strange. I rate this as the second of his films and the second allowed for this year that I allow on my must see list. Its delicate. Sparse, yet rich, like a nude drunken stroll through a stormy spice bazaar in a land whose language you do not speak.
When you see it, realize that it is dangerous stuff, that if you are either incredibly weak or very strong, it will capture you and you will sail on the ship of lost narrative.
Forever.
Ted's Evaluation -- 4 of 3: Every cineliterate person should experience this.
Life is a matter of stories and also about reflection on self. So all true stories are in some way at least partly about storytelling. The only question is whether the fold has power. Such can have extreme power when things flow more fluidly than you allow your mind to work and does so cinematically. This has that power.
The basic structure is of a vessel of stories, where stories live as parked fragments of life. The "ship" needs a live human to be the viewer of the stories, but because this is reflective, the viewer/listener participates in these fragments as well. But they are not disconnected fragments but story elements that self-assemble in unexpected ways. Some run parallel. Some recount others. Some elaborate, or contain or spawn others. Some negate, affirm, kill. Others baffle, countering those that explain.
This isn't Borges, whose map is revealed. This is a universe of silkworms weaving an incomprehensible wad of threads that intersect, merge, disappear. Sacha Vierny is the cinematographer, and oh what a poet the man is! Its all stories, and constantly spoken, but the images are what matters the spine of the thing is cinematic, leveraging that special ability to hypnotize that only a master of image can throw.
I had not known of this film before now. For some reason, Ruiz's work isn't appreciated and circulated as it should be. Its strange. I rate this as the second of his films and the second allowed for this year that I allow on my must see list. Its delicate. Sparse, yet rich, like a nude drunken stroll through a stormy spice bazaar in a land whose language you do not speak.
When you see it, realize that it is dangerous stuff, that if you are either incredibly weak or very strong, it will capture you and you will sail on the ship of lost narrative.
Forever.
Ted's Evaluation -- 4 of 3: Every cineliterate person should experience this.