Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Sight & Sound Challenge: Marketa Lazarova (1967)

Film: Marketa Lazarova (209/250) 
First Time/Rewatch: First Time

This was an interesting second dip into the world of Czech cinema (the first being Daisies). I was pretty much lost plot-wise, due to a fatal combination of sleepiness and a complete inability to keep characters straight. What did stay with me was the imagery, some of it beautiful, some of it unnerving. The image above was so foreboding, and there was another moment in the film where a group of nuns all turn their heads in unison...I don't know what it was, but it was chilling. Add a few shot of Marketa staring up looking like the girl in The Ring, and you've got yourself visual poetry, even if the story had me lost. I might revisit this one someday, but probably not. Worth a watch once to get a taste of international cinema. Incidentally, I just discovered that somebody uploaded a video on YouTube setting scenes of this movie to Joy Division's "Shadowplay." It pretty much captures the film's visual essence, minus the almost three hour runtime! But uh, yeah, watch the movie too!

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