Cinema Science

From Roger Ebert's website.

Roger Ebert has received these e-mail observations about the death of Ingmar Bergman:

Paul Cox, director:

A note in the paper.
Ingmar Berman has died.
The man who shaped and nourished my deeper thoughts, feeling and hopes.
The artist who illuminated my dreams.
Ingmar Bergman, the magician!
Master of the most powerful tool of self
expression ever given to man.
May his legacy NOT rest in peace.
May his 'chess game with death' remain a symbol of hope.
May his vision of our dark misconceptions of what it means to be human
enlighten our troubled planet for all generations to come.

Paul Schrader, director: Ingmar Bergman, more than any other director, showed that it was possible for a film director to be an introspective and serious artist in the commercial cinema. Bergman paved the road; the rest of us just road down it.

Richard Linklater, director: For an artist who contemplated what he called "the great mystery" probably more than any other, it's almost comforting to know he's now experienced it... or not experienced it, as he seemed to think quite possible.

Gregory Nava, director: When I was a young man in the late sixties - in high school -- I was first introduced to the films of Ingmar Bergman. It was at a funky art theater in La Jolla, called “The Unicorn” where one could drink espresso and read books to the sounds of Baroque music before going into the theater to see “foreign” movies. Quite an adventure for a Catholic school boy.

The films of Bergman struck me like a lightning bolt - I had never seen anything like them before, even the titles were like some kind of existential poetry -- “The Seventh Seal” -- “Wild Strawberries” -- “The Silence.” Here were films that were not afraid to talk about the big questions - “Who are we?” “Where do we come from?” “Where are we going?” And I drank them up, like a thirsty man finding a crystal spring in the desert. My mind and my soul desperately needed what these films had to say. This was not the escapist fare of Hollywood, or the pat spirituality of Biblical epic films where God spoke in hallowed tones from a burning bush. With Bergman, God was a spider that lived in the upstairs closet! A shocking and necessary jolt to my Catholic sensibilities.

Yes, these films changed me forever -- they cemented my dream to become a filmmaker because if film could do this -- then surely it was the greatest art form of our time. I will never forget the first time I saw the horses standing in the surf against a setting sun, and death with his black cape raised approaching the world weary knight.

He was a giant in a time of giants -- Kurosawa, Fellini -- giants like we don't have anymore. You don't realize how unique and important he really was until there is another generation and another and there are no Bergmans. No giants. Now he's gone.

David Mamet, playwright and director: When I was young the World Theatre, in Chicago, staged an all-day Ingmar Bergman Festival. I went at ten o'clock in the morning, and stayed all day. When I left the theater it was still light, but my soul was dark, and I did not sleep for years afterwards.

Guy Maddin, director: A very sad day. I subconsciously thought that guy would live for ever. Even though he's dead now he must still be perceptibly animated somehow by his unkillable Swedish lust and dread. Someone from the CBC left a message for me today asking for a comment on the death of -- then static came and it sounded like she said "Burton" and I thought maybe Richard Burton had died, again, or Canadian game show icon Pierre Burton had died, again, and then I realized they were asking me about Tim Burton, which they weren't of course. So I was especially surprised by this change-up when it turned out to be Bergman. Or was it Shelley Berman? Woe!

Haskell Wexler, cinematographer: I never had the honor of meeting Ingmar Bergman: I was good friends with Sven Nykvist who told me stories about Bergman. They sat in a big old church from very early in the morning until as black as the night gets. They noted where the light moved thru the stain glass windows. Bergman planned where he would stage the scenes for a picture they were about to do. This had the practical advantage of minimizing light and generator costs. Sven said sitting alone with Ingmar in the church had a profound effect on him. I asked him if it made him more religious. He said he didn’t think so but it did give him some kind of spiritual connection to Ingmar which helped him deal with the times Bergman became very mean. On “Days Of Heaven” we had long beautiful mystic hours because of the northern latitudes. We called it Bergman light because of that long extended Swedish latitude and the many hours of Mystic Light.

David Gordon Green, director: Bergman was one of the greatest psychological poets ever. Plumbed the subconscious and put it up on screen like a dream. A true master of sound as well. Plus all those good-lookin' Swedish babes. He was a lion, truly fearless and totally in control, totally committed.