The great Soviet director Mikhail Kalatozov, known for his virtuosic, emotionally gripping films, perhaps never directed one more visually astonishing than Letter Never Sent. This absorbing tale of exploration and survival concerns four members of a geological expedition who are stranded in the bleak and unforgiving Siberian wilderness while on a mission to find diamonds. Luxuriating in wide-angle beauty and featuring one daring shot after another (the brilliant cinematography is by Kalatozov’s frequent collaborator Sergei Urusevsky), Letter Never Sent is a fascinating piece of cinematic history and a universal adventure of the highest order. –The Criterion Collection
Soviet filmmaker Mikhail Kalatozov made numerous films, but is best remembered for three important dramas. The first Salt of Svanetia(1930) was a seminal work in early Soviet cinema, noted for its beautiful cinematography, and sensitive look at life in a remote Caucasian village. Though greatly appreciated today, authorities originally considered it too antagonistic. The second, The Nail in the Boot (1932) was banned for the same reason. Kalatozov first gained international recognition for the third film the Cranes Are Flying (1957). In 1958, it won the Golden Palm award at Cannes. Born Mikhail Kalatozishvili in Tiflis, Russia, Kalatozov originally studied to be an economist. In 1925 though, he began working as an actor in the Georgian studios. He then began cutting and shooting films. He made his first short documentary, -Their Kingdom in 1928 and two years later made his feature film debut. Salt of Svanetia was his second film. After his third film A Nail in the Boot was banned, Kalatozov… read more
I've never seen clouds used to better effect! Obviously, unlike the American Range, on the Siberian Tiaga the skies *are* cloudy all day. Very creative use of rear projection, some fine hand-held camera work and more extreme close-ups than anyone since CT Dreyer make this well-crafted film a treat that would be totally awesome on the big silver screen! If you left The Cranes are Flying with a taste for more of Tatyana Samojlova this is the place for another repast. Sometimes it goes a tad overboard, but that's like saying there are too many feathers in Hitchcock's The Birds.
A stunning craft went into this film, although its formal beauty and elegiac qualities are severely undermined by its nationalistic hollering and pacing problems, but its film language is so refined, the camera movements so sumptuous it makes for an almost obligatory viewing.
one of the most harrowing and gorgeous films ever to dance in my retinas. such iconic imagery and camerawork. wonderful, fleshy human characters. becalmed by nature, the toil of civilized endeavour proves to be worth fighting for. for our comrades. for our loves. if we as a species could locate ourselves amongst the river. for it is swift, and it flows, and not easily frozen in winter. our souls whisper a scream...
Can't wait to see this. Tatyana Samojlova is one of the most beautiful muses in the history of cinema--her performance in The Cranes Are Flying is so poignant. Plus, I was absolutely wowed by Sergei Urusevksy's innovative cinematography.
Wow, just...wow. No film makes the case as convincingly that the Nouvelle Vague/Cinéma vérité was such a colossal waste of time (not THIS francophile's position btw, but still an interesting one) and no film makes the case as convincingly that 1959 was film's annus mirabilis. This ought to be mandatory viewing for every mumblecore/shaky-cam DP; hard to fathom how this and Tiny Furniture are on the same label.
Also: New books, new DVD/Blu-ray releases, new Sight & Sound.
