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The Color of Pomegranates
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Revisiting the beautiful films of the Soviet New Wave can be exhilarating. Regarding two new DVD releases of Sergei Paradjanov films, the experience is nothing short of profound. Their experimental content and celebration of traditional cultures in outlying Russian republics separates Paradjanov's films from earlier Russian works immersed in Stalinist realism. Using images of Byzantine icons, quattrocento painting and dazzling color, Paradjanov creates folk tales that are boldly modern.
Paradjanov was imprisoned soon after completing The Color of Pomegranates (Sayat Nova) in 1972. He spent much of the 1970s in a Russian gulag. Released in the early '80s, he returned to filmmaking with a feverish intensity until his death in 1990.
While the former Soviet Union struggles through economic chaos, Paradjanov's films are reaching new audiences around the world. For one of the most important of all postwar Soviet directors, his posthumous acclaim is long overdue.
The Color of Pomegranates
Unrated
1969-72 Kino
Paradjanov's masterpiece is a dazzling epic about the life of 18th-century Armenian poet, Sayat Nova. The film tracks his childhood as well as his days as a troubadour at the court of King Heraclius II of Georgia, his retreat to a monastery and his subsequent old age and death.
The film was condemned by Soviet authorities, shelved for four years and re-edited into a series of bootleg prints. This 88-minute version captures Paradjanov's innovative use of tableaux that allows The Color of Pomegranates to embrace medieval art with modern technique. Its exotic beauty will leave you breathless.
Additional DVD extras are Paradjanov's 1965 short film Hagop Hovnatanian and Ron Halloway's 1994 documentary Paradjanov: A Requiem. Halloway's film surveys Paradjanov's life and filmmaking through interviews, drawings, photographs and film clips. For new Paradjanov fans, it's a wonderful cinematic primer. (Grade: A)
The Legend of Suram Fortress
Unrated
1985 Kino
Ashik Kerib
Unrated
1988, Kino
Two Paradjanov films are paired together for one dazzling DVD package. An ancient legend is the source for The Legend of Suram Fortress. A group of Georgian warriors struggle to keep a fortress from continually falling. After a fortune teller reveals the prophecy in which the son of her lover must be bricked alive for the fortress to stand, the young man considers sacrificing himself for the good of his country. Its abstract beauty and epic spectacle brings The Legend of Suram Fortress alive with all requisite Paradjanov flourishes.
In Ashik Kerib, Paradjanov tests the moviemaking boundaries with a tale about a wandering minstrel who wants to earn enough money to marry the girl he loves. Elaborate choreography, lush photography and early Russia artwork combine into a fairy tale that's best described as experimental. On the level of sheer visuals, Ashik Kerib is the most unforgettable of all of Paradjanov's films. (Grade:A)
And the rest
Writer/director James Brooks' classic adaptation of Larry McMurty's novel, Terms of Endearment, finally receives its DVD debut. Heartfelt performances from Debra Winger, Shirley Maclaine and Jack Nicholson makes this mother/daughter relationship tale into a melodramatic masterpiece. Before Colby, Amber and the rest of the Survivor 2 contestants headed to the Outback, America became obsessed with Survivor's first-season hijinks on the island of Pilau Tiga. Sure, we already know the winner, but this 135-minute version of the 39-day Survivor Season One adventure is a guilty pleasure all the same.
