Editors' note: We're happy to introduce the newest regular City Belt column today, "Motus Imago," which will focus on independent film. Or, as a cranky detractor put it, "movies with subtitles you have to hire a babysitter and go to New York to see." Anyway, enjoy.
MoMA remembers a great cinematographer
By Nightdreamer
The cinematographer is the person whose profession is motion-picture photography; the person who is responsible for all operations concerning camera work and lighting during the production of a film. If there was a site similar to God Among Directors for cinematographers, Sven Vilhelm Nykvist would feel very lonely on the peak.
Nykvist, following Leonardo Da Vinci’s dictum that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, became a pure naturalist. That is why he preferred to “shoot on location, because in the studio you have too many possibilities -- too many lights to destroy your whole picture,” as he stated in a 1984 interview at the American Film Institute.
Nykvist’s name is closely connected with that of Ingmar Bergman. We cannot define who affected more the other one, just as we can’t know if Bergman’s persona would have been the same without Nykvist. Long close-ups, black and white on the background and lighting that keeps pacing with each movie’s tempo, making altogether the dialogue just superfluous. Ingrid Thulin’s look in The Silence is considered one of the most representative movie stills -- it could be a painting in a museum of art.
This weekend, The Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) hosts a tribute to Sven Nykvist, with three screenings: The Silence, An-Magritt, and Crimes and Misdemeanors.
The Silence is the last of a Bergman trilogy on fear, faith and -- of course -- human relationships. Incestuous and lesbian or highly figurative?
An-Magritt is the famous Norwegian director Arne Skouen's swan song. The film is an adaptation of a novel set in a 17th century community. Nykvist depicts excellently the contrast between the environmental conditions (cold winter vs. smelting furnaces) and the social structure (male society vs. An-Magritt).
Crimes and Misdemeanors is taking place in Woody Allen’s favorite place, Manhattan. And anyone who watched it can still recall Alan Alda’s quotation: "Comedy is tragedy plus time!" And that’s all about this movie. Comedy and tragedy in the same time.
Through these three screenings, MoMA attempts to honor the great cinematographer in the wake of his eternal "absence" began last year. Nykvist’s work was tremendous and included films such as Fanny and Alexander, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Persona, The Virgin Spring, Sleepless in Seattle and at least a hundred more titles. He put it best himself: "The only critical thing I have to say about my color is that it is too nice. It's too pretty.” I hope he’s now living in an as beautiful color pallete as he ever imagined.
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