DVD Collectors Online

Det sjunde inseglet, a review by Danae Cassandra

Where We Are: Sweden
wikipedia

What We Watched:


Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal)Overview:
Disillusioned and exhausted after a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight (Max von Sydow) encounters Death on a desolate beach and challenges him to a fateful game of chess. Much studied, imitated, even parodied, but never outdone, The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet), Ingmar Bergman's stunning allegory of man's search for meaning, was one of the benchmark imports of America's 1950s art-house heyday, pushing cinema's boundaries and ushering in a new era of moviegoing.

My Thoughts:
This is an art film - striking cinematography, arresting visuals, allegorical, philosophical, symbolic.  It is also the art film, richly deserving of its status as classic.  It's an extraordinary piece of art, a dark, beautiful film with great power to disturb the viewer.

Steeped as it is in conflicts/contrast between faith and disbelief (the Christian knight and his atheist squire, the condemnation of the flagellants fanaticism and the simple beauty of Jof's vision of Mary and the Christ Child) I ultimately found the film to affirm the Wiccan adage "For if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without."  The knight, seeking endlessly for answers, has the answer within himself the entire time - only you give your life meaning. 

Of course, perhaps Bergman means for us to each find our own message in the film.  It's a rich, complex, layered piece of work and highly recommended for the thinking film enthusiast.  A new favorite.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 5/5

(From Around the World in 86 Movies on August 12th, 2013)

Funuke: Show Some Love, You Losers!, a review by dfmorgan

Funuke: Show Some Love, You Losers!

Year: 2007
Director: Daihachi Yoshida
Cast: Eriko Sato, Aimi Satsukawa, Masatoshi Nagase, Hiromi Nagasaku
Overview: Funuke... is the story of a countryside family struggle. The movie begins with both parents dying in a car accident. The elder sister (Eriko Sato) comes back home from Tokyo because they are no longer able to send her money for acting school. The other two members of the family are the little sister (Aimi Satsukawa), an asthma-stricken aspiring manga writer and older brother (Masatoshi Nagase), who abuses his wife (Hiromi Nagasaku). Now that the frustrated elder sister has come back (and eager to leave again), tension within the family hits an all-time-high. Every member of the family has a dark secret and they lead to one event after another...

Watched: 11th Apr 2010
My Thoughts: A dark comedy it has been called, yes it is most definitely dark and there are some giggles to be had so I suppose dark comedy must be the best description but there wasn't a lot of laughs. A dysfunctional family is reunited because of the death of the parents but they have not reunited in grief. This film follows them as they try for retribution for events in the past and also to some degree try to resolve these issues.

The director showed flashback sequences by using a darker colour palette as opposed to the generally bright imagery for current day events.

There were plenty of trailers for Third Window Films releases but no other extras and this film was presented in non-anamorphic widescreen 

My Rating: A strange but oddly enjoyable 3

Dave

(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on April 11th, 2010)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Tom

2.01 North (1995-11-09)
Writer: Paul Haggis (Created By), Jeff King (Writer)
Director: Richard J. Lewis
Cast: Paul Gross (Constable Benton Fraser), David Marciano (Detective Ray Vecchio), Beau Starr (Lt. Harding Welsh), Daniel Kash (Detective Louis Gardino), Tony Craig (Detective Jack Huey), Catherine Bruhier (Elaine), Red Green (Hamish), David Calderisi (Vecchio Sr.), Gordon Pinsent (Fraser Sr.), Andrew Jackson (Hogan), Kevin Rushton (Hunter), Brian Smegal (Jack), Barry Stilwell (Cop), Ramona Milano (Francesca (uncredited))

A good start into the new season. It follows up on Ray's promise in the last episode. This episode perfectly shows how far their friendship has come.

Rating:



2.02 Vault (1995-11-07)
Writer: Paul Haggis (Created By), Jeff King (Story By), Paul Haggis (Story By), Kathy Slevin (Story By), Kathy Slevin (Screenwriter)
Director: Steve DiMarco
Cast: Paul Gross (Constable Benton Fraser), David Marciano (Detective Ray Vecchio), Beau Starr (Lt. Harding Welsh), Daniel Kash (Detective Louis Gardino), Tony Craig (Detective Jack Huey), Catherine Bruhier (Elaine), Ramona Milano (Francesca), Camilla Scott (Inspector Margaret Thatcher), Christina Cox (Morgan), Scott Gibson (Ovitz), Boyd Banks (Norm), Vince Corazza (Lenny), Nicholas Kilbertus (Harold), David Crean (Cooper), Ken Quinn (Mountie Will), Michael Maiola (Damian), Marc Donato (Little Kid)

A great episode. Fun interactions between Ray and Fraser in the Vault. More screentime for Francesca. And the introduction of Fraser's new boss Inspector Thatcher. I always liked her character in the second season. Sadly with beginning of season 3 she is only bitchy (and with a bad new hairstyle).

Rating:

(From "Due South" marathon on August 9th, 2009)