★★★ Wild Strawberries

[Gino: 3.0]

[This was watched on the train in two parts.] Three stars is a lot for me for a movie made before I was born. Someday, I will come up with some translation algorithm to figure out how many stars this might be in modern terms. I think 4 stars. What am I saying by that? Something along the lines of 4-stars if only compared to movies I've seen that predate, well, me. Or to put it another way, I think if this film had been made today it would have been 4 stars for me. Enough of that.

This is my first Bergman film. I know that many of my favorite directors have been influenced heavily by his films, so in many ways this felt like a "prototype" for films I like today: The main idea, a selfish man spends his life unable to show affection, and pays in lonliness, is a theme that seems to permiate many of my favorite films. Seeing other younger people going down the same road, he sees where he went wrong. It's use of flashbacks, particularly in a tale about an old man was appropriate, but there are so many blondes (apparently) in 1950's Sweden that I was confused at times. Is that racist of me in any way? Sexist? And while we're at it, let's get some agism in too: I was impressed by the acting of Victor Sjöström, who was born in 1879 for chrissake and Wild Strawberries was made in 1957! You do the math.