and they were all amazing men and women
I was saddened by Bergman's death. As for many people, Persona had a big impact on me. At the time, I must have been 18, it's safe to say I lacked most if not all the life experience needed to read it as intended. But on a surface level (albeit a quiet one), I devoured it. The film seeped into my unconscious and festered, probably still holding court in some remote corner of my brain, dictating disproportionate amounts of my thoughts.
Persona's location one step outside of consciousness was extremely attractive. And to this day, that is still where I thrive, right behind the line separating rational partition from the inexplicable.
The topics Bergman explored were old issues. Death, id, ego, insanity, identity, desire, morality: these are not really current concerns. Now we are interested in the lines between; the act of pointing to.
Last night Jano and I went to see Passolini's Momma Roma and it was absolutely amazing, putting so many films made since to shame. With relentless wit he catalogued the dissonances of lives lived in denial of consensual reality. A kind of operatic tragedy, it's high melodrama, clearing the way for Sirk and Fassbinder.
I still have a nostalgia for those big fearless questions raised by artists in the 60's. Compared to them, so much of what one sees today is a kind of candy-colored nihilism. Avoiding nostalgia for a previous artistic era is made all the more difficult when reminded at how great so much of that work was.