Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Tonight On the Little Screen #2


A positive review of Sergei Paradjanov's "The Legend of Suram Fortress", 1984.

The Suram Fortress repeatedly collapses in spite of the dogged efforts of the Georgian people.  A fortune teller is consulted and offers a prophesy:  in order for the fortress to stand, the son of the princess must be walled up inside the building.

Paradjanov constructs the narrative from symmetrical tableaux, straight-on look-into-the-camera close-ups, densely populated wide-angle spectacles, and Mellies-style special effects.









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