Visual Index ~ "Cries and Whisper" Best Shot(s)
Tuesday, July 29, 2014 at 11:02PM 
Tuesday night means Best Shot. This week we're looking at Ingmar Bergman's biggest success stateside both at the box office and with Oscar voters. If Cries and Whispers is not quite his most famous classic today, it remains one of the true essentials within his celebrated filmography. This mysterious and utterly gorgeous film won Bergman's longtime DP Sven Nykvist the first of his two Oscars for best cinematography. It concerns three sisters, one of whom is dying, and the family's maid. Naturally it's very depressing. But great art always transcends.
If you're running late with your choice for Best Shot, take heart and finish watching. My own entry in this "best shot" party will be up tomorrow so yours can be too. I have a good excuse. Today I finalized all the prep work for both the '73 Smackdown festivities (running from Thursday to Saturday here) and all the bookings for this year's Toronto International Film Festival so that you can be assured coverage of that festival this year. This year I'll be staying for the entire festival so there will be more coverage than even last year. I'm so happy about that I practically broke into a hearty round of "O Canada".
But Canada can wait. Tonight we head to Sweden for an unmissable classic...
CRIES AND WHISPERS - BEST SHOTS
9 participants. Click on the photos for the corresponding articles
this post will be updated again tomorrow night with any late entries received
a reprieve from the bold crimson but one which nevertheless shows the emotional damage...
-Lam Chop Chop
the single best film in Bergman's canon, merciless but profound, bleak but beautiful...
-Antagony & Ecstasy
Anna, the housekeeper, seems to be the only one capable of true human connection...
-Coco Hits NY
my best shot for purely aesthetic reasons...
-Film Actually
Maria's flashback, though, finds yet another use for the color red...
-The Entertainment Junkie
Bergman even stated that in the screenplay red represented the interior of the soul...
-The Film's The Thing
She tried to make her pain aware to the movie itself, but it did not hear her...
-Pop Culture Crazy
Tinted in crimson (the color of the soul, according to Bergman)...
- Best Shot in the Dark
It's not the eyes that are the window to the soul so much as the face as the soul...
- The Film Experience
... at least one more article to come but please do enjoy these a.s.a.p.
ICYMI last week's episode was very well intended as we looked at this year's most experimental arthouse hit, Under the Skin with Scarlett Johansson. Here's what's coming next. Only four more episodes left this season so join us. I promise it's both challenging and rewarding to participate.
Reader Comments (8)
I played along too, but like in the weirdest way possible??? (I know, I know we gotta stop meeting like this when it comes to my best shot selections. Though I'm totally blaming this time around on The Ghost of Ingmar Bergman being mad at me for not liking his movie. Because I can.)
Anyway, here's mine: http://popculturecrazy.com/post/93139606367/hit-me-with-your-best-shot-cries-and-whispers
eek. just added you. i knew i missed someone. I love creatively personal entries so keep on contributing Kacey.
I tried commenting before but it seems to have gotten eaten? If it hasn't and this is a double post feel free to delete this.
Anyway, I did a Best Shot this week (it's a weird piece tbh). And I *know* we gotta stop meeting like this. I'm going to think long and hard about how I'm communicating this through. And by think long and hard, I'm going to look at my spam filters.
So here is the pick and once again, sorry for the drama: http://popculturecrazy.com/post/93139606367/hit-me-with-your-best-shot-cries-and-whispers
I knew I double posted! I waited five whole minutes before trying again. This just ain't my week.
And thank you, Nathaniel! (And I maintain, sorry for always being the dramatically given entry every week. I'm working on it.)
My pick
http://bestshotinthedark.tumblr.com/post/93259687493/cries-and-whispers-1973-ingmar-bergman-the
I must confess: I'm not Bergman's biggest fan although I'm planning to rewatch his filmography after watching Trespassing Bergman an interesting documentary featuring a huge list of talented people (Allen, Scorsese, Von Trier, Ang Lee) sharing his thoughts about his work.
I didn't have the time to see it again, but I am tormented by that striking close-up of Ullmann, too. It's a piece of brutality to look this close to this beautiful face while the lines dissect her life in the most deep ways. It's a laboratory thing.
I'd like to make an all cat version of this movie. I'd call it "Cries & Whiskers"