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Post by Aj_June on Jul 19, 2019 14:22:14 GMT
I finally got out of not being able to watch any movies for the last 3 months because of circumstances that required my attention elsewhere. And I really missed this classic cinema board for that long. But I am glad I finally saw a movie and a truly great one! Hopefully, I can watch 4 movies a week for the next few months. The Cranes Are Flying (1957) is a realistic story centered on depicting a woman's experience during the second world war. Much like another great war movie from the Soviet Union - The Ballad of a Soldier (1959) - this film is not based on actions depicting actual war. Instead, it deals with people who are not directly involved in the war. The best thing about this film is that it is not a romanticized story but an extremely realistic portrayal of war made in post-Stalin Russia that was waking up to the cultural decline caused by Socialism of earlier decades. The black & white photography of cinematographer Sergey Urusevskiy is mesmerizing and should be a reason by itself to make you watch this film. Next up acting - I think Tatiana Samoilova the lead actress gave an incredibly solid performance as also evidenced by the special mention that she received at the Cannes Film festival. Vasili Merkuryev's performance as a principled and kind man was also one of the highlights of the movie. The music adds to the grimness that you feel through the film although the director smartly manages to give us a bittersweet ending and not a typical bleak ending. All in all, I very strongly recommend this one.
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Post by teleadm on Jul 19, 2019 16:57:30 GMT
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Post by Aj_June on Jul 19, 2019 17:04:19 GMT
It looks interesting, adding a few pics, if you don't mind: Thanks for the lovely pics. Yes, it is indeed a very important film and a great movie in every way. I will rank it on par with The Ballad of a Soldier (1959) if you have seen that one. 
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Post by hi224 on Jul 19, 2019 20:14:08 GMT
I finally got out of not being able to watch any movies for the last 3 months because of circumstances that required my attention elsewhere. And I really missed this classic cinema board for that long. But I am glad I finally saw a movie and a truly great one! Hopefully, I can watch 4 movies a week for the next few months. The Cranes Are Flying (1957) is a realistic story centered on depicting a woman's experience during the second world war. Much like another great war movie from the Soviet Union - The Ballad of a Soldier (1959) - this film is not based on actions depicting actual war. Instead, it deals with people who are not directly involved in the war. The best thing about this film is that it is not a romanticized story but an extremely realistic portrayal of war made in post-Stalin Russia that was waking up to the cultural decline caused by Socialism of earlier decades. The black & white photography of cinematographer Sergey Urusevskiy is mesmerizing and should be a reason by itself to make you watch this film. Next up acting - I think Tatiana Samoilova the lead actress gave an incredibly solid performance as also evidenced by the special mention that she received at the Cannes Film festival. Vasili Merkuryev's performance as a principled and kind man was also one of the highlights of the movie. The music adds to the grimness that you feel through the film although the director smartly manages to give us a bittersweet ending and not a typical bleak ending. All in all, I very strongly recommend this one. Melancholic somber ending. |
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Post by manfromplanetx on Jul 19, 2019 22:27:01 GMT
Hi there Aj_June A wonderful film … Great to see you back on board !
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Post by petrolino on Jul 19, 2019 23:26:17 GMT
Beautiful film. I've seen three films from director Mikhail Kalatozov and like them all.
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Post by hi224 on Jul 20, 2019 4:52:22 GMT
Beautiful film. I've seen three films from director Mikhail Kalatozov and like them all. a top director for me.
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Post by Aj_June on Jul 20, 2019 5:06:57 GMT
Beautiful film. I've seen three films from director Mikhail Kalatozov and like them all. Which other two movies of the Kalatozov have you seen, Petrolino? 
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Post by petrolino on Jul 20, 2019 5:12:40 GMT
Beautiful film. I've seen three films from director Mikhail Kalatozov and like them all. Which other two movies of the Kalatozov have you seen, Petrolino? FI've seen 'Cranes' and 'I Am Cuba'. I've also seen the film 'Letter Never Sent' on dvd. I don't know if I've seen the all-star 'Red Tent' on tv, with Sean Connery (?), as I've seen a load of his nondescript movies I now barely remember.
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Post by london777 on Jul 21, 2019 18:13:44 GMT
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Post by geode on Jul 27, 2019 15:14:57 GMT
I finally got out of not being able to watch any movies for the last 3 months because of circumstances that required my attention elsewhere. And I really missed this classic cinema board for that long. But I am glad I finally saw a movie and a truly great one! Hopefully, I can watch 4 movies a week for the next few months. The Cranes Are Flying (1957) is a realistic story centered on depicting a woman's experience during the second world war. Much like another great war movie from the Soviet Union - The Ballad of a Soldier (1959) - this film is not based on actions depicting actual war. Instead, it deals with people who are not directly involved in the war. The best thing about this film is that it is not a romanticized story but an extremely realistic portrayal of war made in post-Stalin Russia that was waking up to the cultural decline caused by Socialism of earlier decades. The black & white photography of cinematographer Sergey Urusevskiy is mesmerizing and should be a reason by itself to make you watch this film. Next up acting - I think Tatiana Samoilova the lead actress gave an incredibly solid performance as also evidenced by the special mention that she received at the Cannes Film festival. Vasili Merkuryev's performance as a principled and kind man was also one of the highlights of the movie. The music adds to the grimness that you feel through the film although the director smartly manages to give us a bittersweet ending and not a typical bleak ending. All in all, I very strongly recommend this one. Yes, this is a great "classic" that has ranked near the top of my esteem (at least in my top 25 movies) since I first saw it in a college film history over 47 years ago. It is the finest Russian film I have ever seen. I was officially a film major but about to graduate with a degree in geology. This was the only film class I ever took, but I remember the content better than almost any class ever took.
The instructor was limited by budget and availability since all films had to be shown in 16mm. This was 1972, before video copies were out. But he assembled a great list all the same of post WW II cinema. This was the second semester of a full year course, the first covering pre-war films. The list was true "world cinema" and did not let American films dominate. I still remember some points he made in his introduction to "The Cranes Are Flying" after all these years. He told the class that we needed to realize how immediate the war had been to the Soviet Union, with many people dying. He said to remember this as we watched the ending. He talked about how there was a window in Soviet film making following the death of Stalin that allowed for making a movie like this one, not steeped in communist ideology and even having cinematography that would have not been allowed earlier.
The cinematography is incredible. There are continuous tracking shots that seem almost impossible in their perfection. This was filmed long before Steadicam was available. One long take starts with Veronica on a bus and ends in a crane shot as she wanders among moving tanks. It had to have started hand held and ended up with the cameraman on a crane. But in all these tracking shots there are extreme closeups and long shots yet I never see a miss in pulling focus.
The ending, with more incredible tracking shots, packs a lot of emotional impact, with few films matching it...and I am not a Russian that survived the war.
Mikhail Kalatozov was already on my "watch" list ever since I had seen "The Red Tent" the year before. It had bombed and been savaged by critics but it also is a masterpiece, even though only a few of us realize it. It also has stunning cinematography.
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Post by geode on Jul 28, 2019 2:24:14 GMT
Here is the incredible tracking shot I mentioned in my post. It would still be state of the art today done with Steadicam, but this was unavailable at the time.
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