Post by Capo on Jan 15, 2007 22:11:17 GMT
Ivanovo detstvo
Ivan's Childhood
Andrei Tarkovsky 1962 USSR
A young boy joins the Russian Army to avenge the death of his family at the hand of the Germans.
An impressive film, Tarkovsky's most accessible and straightforward work (he took over after Eduard Abalov was fired), filmed with far too much virtuosity to dismiss as minor stuff. If it is supposed to be from the eyes of the title character, there is an odd episode dedicated entirely to the seduction of a female doctor by one of Ivan's commanders and carers; it would be throwaway were it not fantastically shot, with a camera roaming side to side in a completely anonymous forest, which offers wonderful potential for lens focusing and framing of character in shot. The same camera movement is echoed later in the film, when it explores an empty wall with the words "Avenge us" written on, as Ivan imagines long-gone victims writing such words - Tarkovsky shows us the empty wall but plays the would-be screams over the soundtrack. Earlier in the film, there is an incredible dream sequence, in which Ivan falls down a well and the camera seems to jump through different spaces and times in the same take. Eloquent stuff made to look effortless; so little in the way of cast and production design, and yet so effective in conjuring a feeling of war.
Ivan's Childhood
Andrei Tarkovsky 1962 USSR
A young boy joins the Russian Army to avenge the death of his family at the hand of the Germans.
An impressive film, Tarkovsky's most accessible and straightforward work (he took over after Eduard Abalov was fired), filmed with far too much virtuosity to dismiss as minor stuff. If it is supposed to be from the eyes of the title character, there is an odd episode dedicated entirely to the seduction of a female doctor by one of Ivan's commanders and carers; it would be throwaway were it not fantastically shot, with a camera roaming side to side in a completely anonymous forest, which offers wonderful potential for lens focusing and framing of character in shot. The same camera movement is echoed later in the film, when it explores an empty wall with the words "Avenge us" written on, as Ivan imagines long-gone victims writing such words - Tarkovsky shows us the empty wall but plays the would-be screams over the soundtrack. Earlier in the film, there is an incredible dream sequence, in which Ivan falls down a well and the camera seems to jump through different spaces and times in the same take. Eloquent stuff made to look effortless; so little in the way of cast and production design, and yet so effective in conjuring a feeling of war.