“More than the actual plot, you experience the film through the way the
human face is used. The ability to hold on a face speaks to an absolute trust. There’s an incredibly long shot of Liv Ullmann as she’s listening to the Bach, which then uses a very slow, physical fade to black. It wasn’t an optical effect; I believe they actually began to change the light. All of that was really impressive to me at the time. The sculptural sense of the film, and maybe the idea that the screen becomes an installation—Bergman’s insistence on the screen as a sculptural device.”
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"If you love films and care about filmmakers, you'll have a hard time putting this book down. These lively conversations reveal just how much one generation of filmmakers influences the next - and how a single movie can change the course of a young person's life and career."
-Leonard Maltin, author of Leanord Martin's Movie Guide -
"A great and provocative read. Elder begins with a simple question and leads a wide variety of filmmakers down all sorts of unexpected paths. Why do we respond so passionately, even irrationally, to the movies that change our lives? The wonderful thing about being a critic or a lifelong movie lover is that life changes all the time in relation to the spells being cast on the screen. Elder's book honors that alchemic relationship many times over. It's addictive."
-Michael Phillips, film critic, Chicago Tribune