I am pretty tired, after a day of traveling, from the center of Spain - Madrid - to one of the most beautiful cities in the south, Granada. More about my trip tomorrow, in my other post. This is supposed to be a movie post.
I want to keep up my daily movie recommendation. This is day 21 in a row. I didn't really have any inspiration, so I opened my Letterboxd account, where I check the movies that I've watched, and picked the first title I saw:
The Virgin Spring
It's a classic Swedish movie, from the hands of one of the best European filmmakers ever: Ingmar Bergman.
If you study film, like I've done, Bergman is one of the names to remember, together with the likes of Fellini, Hitchcock, Kurosawa and Kubrick. He was definitely one of the so called auteurs, with his own distinctive style.
I must have seen 20 of his films. There actually was a time, when I almost binge watched them. Although, to be honest, they aren't binge watch material at all. Seriously, if you're looking to be 'entertained', you better skip these films. This is European auteur cinema. I'm talking about films that make your brain work overtime, that give you headaches (and not because they're bad). And, I'm not gonna lie to you.... even I, find some of them hard to digest. Nevertheless, there's at least a handful of Bergman productions that are among my (couple of hundred) favorite titles. This is definitely one of them.
To be honest, I remember very little of this film. But, if you tend to watch my movie recommendations, you know that I don't talk about the plot anyway.
To give you a little background info, or to wet your appetite and perhaps convince you to give this a watch: this film is said to have heavily influenced the 1972 revenge movie Last House on the Left, the debut film of Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream). And there's no doubt it also influenced the 70s cult horror movie I Spit on Your Grave (of which I recently watched the 2010 remake.
The Virgin Spring itself was loosely based on Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950). Another of my favorite films.
Funny enough, Ingmar Bergman seems to have called (t)his film "a lousy imitation of Kurosawa."Source
I'm not saying that he gives too much credit to Kurosawa - Rashomon is a masterpiece - but The Virgin Spring definitely isn't 'lousy', it's legendary.
It won an Academy Award for best Foreign film.
I can't find any good trailer, but I found the full movie here. So if my post piqued your interest, you know what to do...
Who knows, this might be the film that you lose your Bergman virginity on.
As always, hit me up with your comments. How do you like the films of Ingmar Bergman? Haven't seen any?
Are you planning to watch this one? If so, don't forget to get back at me with your view on it.
Image source: movie poster
Earlier movie recommendations:
Short film Table Tennis inspired by David Lynch
Spanish:
Todo Sobre mi Madre (1999)
REC (2007)
La Caza (1966)
The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Other:
Le Samourai (1967)
Three Billboard outside of Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Castlevania - series (2017 - )
House by the Cemetery (1981)
The Beyond (1981)
City of the Living Dead (1980)
Sorcerer (1977)
The Birds (1963)
Suspiria (1977)
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
Nightcrawler (2014)
Ghost Story (1953)
Alice in the Cities (1974)
Altered States (1980)
Wake in Fright (1973)