NEW PRINTREISSUE THE SEVENTH SEAL (DET SJUNDE INSEGLET) (PG) 92min 0000
Swedish film and theatre director Ingmar Bergman’s hugely iconic and sustained 1957 meditation on the inevitability of death and suffering in the Middle Ages makes a more than welcome return to the big screen, courtesy of this lovely new print.
The Seventh Seal was expanded from his one-act play, The Wood Painting, which he wrote years earlier as a way of teaching his acting class at Malmo Theatre about the holy divinity of ensemble acting. It took its lead from the rigid, terror-stricken imagery of 14th century Lutheran church murals and the fatalistic, mystical and symbolic style of Belgian poet, playwright and essayist Maurice Maeterlinck (The Blind, The Blue Bird) who Bergman admired deeply.
Returning crusader knight Antonius Block (Max von Sydow), accompanied by his squire Jons (Gunnar Bjornstrand), seeks answers about life, death and the existence of God as he crosses his homeland, which has become racked by the black plague, superstition and fundamentalist Christianity. Pursued by the Grim Reaper, who he tries to keep at bay by playing a continuous game of chess, Block befriends a troupe of strolling players and a woodcutter. But it soon becomes clear that Death has designs on more than just the knight. But who will survive the reaper’s scythe?
Though by no means perfect and, for a modern audience, perhaps a little slow and portentous, The Seventh Seal still has the ability to leave one full of awe for its mix of naturalism, theatricality, unforgettable images and many remarkable set pieces (nearly all of which contain some kind of corporeal mortification). By his own admittance, this is the work of a man still grappling with ideas of faith, God's cruelty and the sheer brutality of the human race.
And yet, contrary to the reputation the film has (honed by a million parodies by everyone from Woody Allen to French and Saunders), re- breaking The Seventh Sea! is not a dour, difficult or depressing experience, but one full of hope bolstered by the rational and poetic. Recommended. (Paul Dale)
I Film/tease. Edinburgh from Fri 27 Jul.
42 THE LIST IS) .Jul —2 Aug 2()()/'
DRAMA
PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC SPACES (COEURS) (12A) 125 min .000
What is it about those French New Wave filmmakers? Godard, Rivette. Chabrol and Rohmer all continue to make films. and here 84 year- old Alain Resnais returns with this elegant and melancholic study of emotional repression. loneliness and longing.
Based on one of prolific Scarborough based playwright Alan Ayckbourn's more recent plays. which Resnais has transposed from London to a wrntry Paris. and filmed in a series of studiobound interiors. Private Fears in Public Spaces consists of some :30 short scenes. examining the interconnected and unfulfilled lives of six middle-aged characters. There's a gentle estate agent Thierry (Andre Dussollierl. who lives with his single younger sister (Isabelle Carrel. and who is drawn to his devout secretary Charlotte (Sabine A/ema). There's also an estranged couple (Laura lvlorante and Lambert Wilson) and a sympathetic bartender (Pierre Arditi). who's saddled Wllll a cantankerous elderly father.
From the opening shot of the camera dropping down over the sky to swoop over the French capital, it's the way that Resnais stages this spectacle that makes Private Fears in Public Spaces such a pleasurable watch. The artifiCial colourcoded sets. se\./eral of which lack ceilings. the graceful ciirematography of Eric Gautier. and the recurrent motif of fake falling snow create a fairytale ambience. There are playful touches too. but it's the beautifully iudged ensemble performances that invest the film and its saddened characters wrth real humanity. (Tom Dawson)
I GFT. Glasgow from Fri 20 Jul.
ACTION ADVT‘LN'TURE SCI Fl TRANSFORMERS (12A) 144min 000
ALSO RELEASED
The Simpsons Movie (PG) 86min 0.. When Homer accidentally pollutes the main river in Springfield he loses his Job and causes a mass exodus from the town in this enjoyable. full-length feature film version of the long running Fox teleVIsien programme. As lvlatt Groenrng's dysfunctional family begin to falter on the small screen from the law of diminishing returns. he brings in the big guns for this big screen spectacular in the shape of director David Monsters /nc Silverman and composer Hans Zimmer (Madagascar. Shark Tale). It all \lvorks pretty well Wllll some nice astute references to other movres taking the place of the stronger political satire of the early episodes of the series. This possible swansong is one of the sure fire hits of the year and as such is critic proof. So who the heck cares about what we have to say anyway? Sec- prevrew. page ('10. General release from Fri 2/
Sherrybaby (15) 95min .0. "TV movie of the week-style social drama about a trailer trash woman who. on her release from prison. tries to reclaim her old life and child. A powerful lead performance from Maggie Gyllenhaal is by far the best thing about it and makes it worth the ride. See feature. page 1?. Cameo. [dinbti'rgt’r and selected release from l‘ri . ’i' Jul,
In 1984 toy manufacturer Hasbro released the Transformers. and as part of its marketing strategy. commissioned a Marvel comic strip and an animated 'TV series that became an instant children's classic. A lore was created in which two robotic alien races. the good Autobots. led by Optimus Prime. and the evil Decepticons. headed by Megatron. do battle. An animated film featuring these irretallic chameleons was made in 1986. Two decades on and Michael Bay (The Rock. Bad Boys) has created a liveaction version that has made more money in its first week than any other non-sequel film in histon at the US box office.
It's easy to see why. The special effects are extraordinary. The trairsformations of the vehicles to robots are wrthout fault. The protagonists. young Sam WitWicky (Shia LaBeouf) and Mikaela (Megan Fox) are pleasing on the eye and have problems that any teenager can relate to. All Sam wants is a cool car but when
he gets one his life (S. err. transformed.
Yet Transformers also shares many of the problems that have afflicted most blockbusters if) this rather lacklustre summer season: it's way too long. ()SDOtIlélil‘. in the final third, in which narrative momentum. plot and cftar;icter'isation are tttitttl‘it‘tl to pave the way for one bloated action sequence after another. and a side plot involvnrg computer trackers is atrocious. But ultimately. for what it is, the film succeeds. largely because there really is more than meets the eye. (KithOll‘i Aftabl
I General release from Fri 27 Jul.