One of the greatest masterpieces of the 20th century, Sergei Parajanov’s The Color of the Pomegranate, a biography of the Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova (King of Song) reveals the poet’s life more through his poetry than a conventional narration of important events in Sayat Nova’s life. We see the poet grow up, fall in love, enter a monastery and die, but these incidents are depicted in the context of what are images from Sergei Parajanov’s imagination and Sayat Nova’s poems, poems that are seen and rarely heard. Sofiko Chiaureli plays 6 roles, both male and female, and Sergei Parajanov writes, directs, edits, choreographs, works on costumes, design and decor and virtually every aspect of this revolutionary work void of any dialog or camera movement. —IMDb
One of the 20th century’s greatest masters of cinema, Sergei Parajanov in the 1960s made two masterpieces in a row: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964) and Color of Pomegranates (1968). Both established him as a phenomenon with no analogy in the art world.
Parajanov was born on the January 9, 1924, in Tbilisi, Georgia, USSR, to an ethnic Armenian family. His father was Iosif Parajanian and his mother was Siranush Bejanian. In 1945 Parajanov traveled to Moscow and entered the directing department at VGIK, one of the oldest and most highly respected film schools in Europe, and studied under director Igor Savchenko and later Aleksandr Dovzhenko in Kiev, Ukraine. Parajanov moved to Kiev, where after a few documentaries (Dumka (1957), Zolotye ruki (1957), Natalya Ushviy (1957)) and several narrative films (Andriesh (1954), Ukrainskaya rapsodiya (1961), Tsvetok na kamne (1962)) he created the magnificent “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”, which won countless international awards… read more
Akin to a mid-afternoon dream, The Color Of Pomegranates is a beautiful, mysterious, melancholic, and above all, elusive piece of film. A gentle, haunting mind-blower of a film. Don't worry so much about deciphering it--just let it wash over you.
Before delving into this film, it's important to keep in mind that its narrative is more reminiscent of a "poem" than, say a novel. That being said, avant-garde film lovers would certainly appreciate something of this calibre. Unfortunately, that does not include me. Alas, I think I could have enjoyed this film a lot more for its attributes, but I felt the attempt at a narrative was too ambiguous.
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Sergei Parajanov occupies a strange place in public perception; lauded to the high heavens by critics and cinephiles as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, yet seemingly unknown to 99% of the… read review
The Color of Pomegranates is a movie that will be in strict defiance of full comprehension for mostly everyone in the world; I would imagine that one would need a vast and intricate knowledge of both… read review
“Sayat Nova” (The Color of Pomegranates) by Sergei Parajanov is unlike any movie i’ve ever had the pleasure to view before. I resembles a poetic, surrealistic dream. Through the 73 minutes of a film… read review
This film is like an intersection between film, painting, poetry, and modern dance. The combination is stunningly powerful and the images are fresh, striking, and moving. What Parajanov succeeds in… read review