So, to continue with my interest in films.  Early on, as a child in London, my big cousin used to take me to Saturday morning ‘flicks’ shown in a local cinema.  It was very exciting, as we sat in the darkened audience waiting for the screen to light up.

I had to ask my cousin many things about what was going on, and I especially found the American accents in the U.S. films hard to understand. But the whole experience I believe set me up for a lifetime of movie interest.

At age 11, which is the age at which children used to have to take what was called an 11+ exam, I managed to be accepted to a ‘good’ grammar school (high school). The competition was always fierce, and I remember worrying that if I failed………….Iwould have to go to a ‘secondary modern school’ which was definitely considered ‘secondary’.  Later on, thankfully, these arbitrary selections were eliminated. 

In any event, I recall that at that age, 11, I decided that I wanted to be a film critic.  I don’t think I even knew what that was,  but it did seem to connect to the world of film, and that was sufficient!

As a teenager, I somehow one day wandered into a film called THE SEVENTH SEAL, by Ingmar Bergmann.  I say wandered in, because I had gone to see a film with a friend, and it was in one of those cinemas where several films were being shown in different studios.  I think my friend and I wandered into this other film, and I was transfixed.  I saw Death playing chess!  I saw those black and white vivid images, I did not know what I was seeing, but I was caught in the visions.

Subsequently, I began to enjoy films, which gave me a glimpse into other cultures, and other worlds, before I had begun to travel anywhere out of England.

This is a continuing journey, of course, and I did manage to study film too, for a course in my undergraduate work in College.  There I was happy to learn more of Ingmar Bergmann and saw most of his films, with that wonderful troupe of actors.  

The one I was particularly impressed by (which is not to take away from any of the others!), is WINTER LIGHT.  When it was first shown in New York, it had a very short run, which I never understood.  

The first scene, which is very long, and intense, brings the communion into sharp focus; the priest, his personal relationships, the painfully doubting man who begs for answers – this sets the whole canvas and our minds and bodies react.

In studying these films, with a wonderful professor, I learned that even with the melancholy and sad situations that are presented by Bergmann, we actually can find pleasure and are drawn to these works.  Not so much that we definitively want to experience difficult circumstances, and can feel them, but because they do ring somehow with authenticity, and speak to us directly.

The way Bergmann expresses so much with the tiny movements of the face. For me, this means that, without speaking, we may gather information about someone’s world just in five minutes of watching faces and their movements.

Well…………I could go on……………..let’s continue next time…… big cousin used to take me to Saturday morning ‘flicks’ shown in a local cinema.  It was very exciting, as we sat in the darkened audience waiting for the screen to light up.

I had to ask my cousin many things about what was going on, and I especially found the American accents in the U.S. films hard to understand. But the whole experience I believe set me up for a lifetime of movie interest.

At age 11, which is the age at which children used to have to take what was called an 11+ exam, I managed to be accepted to a ‘good’ grammar school (high school). The competition was always fierce, and I remember worrying that if I failed………….Iwould have to go to a ‘secondary modern school’ which was definitely considered ‘secondary’.  Later on, thankfully, these arbitrary selections were eliminated. 

In any event, I recall that at that age, 11, I decided that I wanted to be a film critic.  I don’t think I even knew what that was,  but it did seem to connect to the world of film, and that was sufficient!

As a teenager, I somehow one day wandered into a film called THE SEVENTH SEAL, by Ingmar Bergmann.  I say wandered in, because I had gone to see a film with a friend, and it was in one of those cinemas where several films were being shown in different studios.  I think my friend and I wandered into this other film, and I was transfixed.  I saw Death playing chess!  I saw those black and white vivid images, I did not know what I was seeing, but I was caught in the visions.

Subsequently, I began to enjoy films, which gave me a glimpse into other cultures, and other worlds, before I had begun to travel anywhere out of England.

This is a continuing journey, of course, and I did manage to study film too, for a course in my undergraduate work in College.  There I was happy to learn more of Ingmar Bergmann and saw most of his films, with that wonderful troupe of actors.  

The one I was particularly impressed by (which is not to take away from any of the others!), is WINTER LIGHT.  When it was first shown in New York, it had a very short run, which I never understood.  

The first scene, which is very long, and intense, brings the communion into sharp focus; the priest, his personal relationships, the painfully doubting man who begs for answers – this sets the whole canvas and our minds and bodies react.

In studying these films, with a wonderful professor, I learned that even with the melancholy and sad situations that are presented by Bergmann, we actually can find pleasure and are drawn to these works.  Not so much that we definitively want to experience difficult circumstances, and can feel them, but because they do ring somehow with authenticity, and speak to us directly.

The way Bergmann expresses so much with the tiny movements of the face. For me, this means that, without speaking, we may gather information about someone’s world just in five minutes of watching faces and their movements.

Well…………I could go on……………..let’s continue next time……