Sounds like the plot to Under The Volcano.
last call…
“The Saragossa Manuscript” is an absolute masterpiece.
I don’t know if I’d go so far as to describe him as a “great master”. As he never truly realized his full potential (and that potential was certainly there, and did shine through in some of his films) – maybe that was the unfortunate (and all too common) result of the political climate or him simply being afraid to venture out past the niche he embedded himself into.
A shame, that.
Sargoosa Manuscript was Bunuel’s favorite film after he saw it in 1972 at Venice Film Festival—compare Bunuel’s method in last 3 films to Has—it’s quite a shock! Has is a Master of Cinema like Bunuel.
I really enjoyed The Saragossa Manuscript, which is always entertaining, and it certainly has many qualities we’d associate with Bunuel, wit, erotic and sensual pleasure and frustration, jumps between dreams and reality, episodic structure, i like the tales within tales, but i haven’t seen anything else by him. The long book it’s based on is highly thought of.
Saragossa Manuscript was my very first rental from Netflix, more than six years ago. I enjoyed more – for whatever reason – than Pasolini’s picaresques…
The Manuscript Found in Saragossa is a really good book and it seems Has did a fair job covering it. Although, I read the book sometime after watching the film. Mr Bongo films will be getting more copies of another of his films, The Hourglass Sanatorium, sometime soon. It seems as if he had admirable literary taste as this was based of Bruno Schulz’s story collection Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass which is real quality. He’s a director I would like to see more of.
I thought he was more famous! However, besides Saragossa, you have to watch absolutely Petla, Hourglass Sanatorium and his three shorts Moje miasto (1950), Harmonia (1948) and Ulica Brzozowa, two documentaries and one fantasy film.
Other two of his first films are available in DVD, but I’ve never seen them, yet.
Hourglass Sanitorium. like Sargoosa Manuscript, can not really be described—it actually moves more quickly than Sargoosa—Hourglass is in color and can only be compared to Fellini or Bunuel fantasia, but yet very different and not as coherent.
Exactly it, those are films that go over the mind’s eye.
Moje miasto and Ulica Brzozowa are both on youtube without subtitles. And Has’ Pozegnania, or Partings, which was released after Petla is on google video but also without subtitles.
An underated master. Saragossa alone would rate him as one of the greatest filmakers.
We need more of his films made available.
He´s certainly one of the masters of surreal filmmaking, and his version of The Hour Glass Sanatorium is a fascinating puzzle that somehow reminds me Tarkovsky´s Mirror in the way it recollects subjective memory in an almost stream-of-consciousness-like fashion. It´s sad that the majority of Has´ work remains almost unseen.
He’s quite amazing indeed. The Saragossa Manuscript is one of my favourite films, and Hourglass Sanitorium and Pozegnania are masterpieces on their own.
I’ve only seen half a dozen of his films, but his films are very hard to find subtitled in English. I hope I can see more soon. :(
he is one of the best ever. think about saragoossa as a true postmodern cinema and it was made in 1965 in communist poland. "simultaneously horrific, erotic and funny … this is one mother of a film” said david lynch about one of the greatest european art movie and he was 100% right. “hourglass sanatorium” is just stunningly beautiful and j.nowicki’s performance is speechless, pure joy to watch. and my third fave of has – “farewells” – is just a subtle glory. wojciech jerzy has is a true master, period.
Glad to see this thread came to life again after beeing buried for almost half a month. Hopefully the admins are going to include some of this masterful Polish director´s films in the database.
having seen the complex but robust Saragossa Manuscript and hopefully awaiting a an Hourglass Sanatorium viewing,based on the various reactions around here,i have only found one more film of his in Pirate Bay,Balthasar Kober made in 1988.
i’d love to hear thoughts on that film as well as in the primary post by Dan regarding A Loop….that guy is seriously forgotten and in need of some decent releases!
Hourglass Sanatorium is one of the most extraordinarily beautiful eerie fantastical funny tragic things I have ever seen. From the first frame you know you’re in another world. I saw the first hour and a quarter on the big screen the night before last, alas my time ran out and my train was going to leave, and I don’t know if I’ll ever have that chance again, but long live Mr Bongo as long as it supports visions like these.
and there’s still not a single page devoted to has on this site which is rubbish
I agree, it’s crazy that there’s not even a page on this site. I just watched Saragossa Manuscript, and I wonder why it isn’t more well known. Of course, it should be known for it’s own merits, but you’d think that it would at least be famous as a sort of forerunner of Bunuel’s last films.
I saw SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT, and can see why it isn’t better known. A near total bore.
I am reviving this, not just by having seen Hourglass Sanatorium but also because we need better threads around the site without the usual suspects directors and stuff cramming the discussion. Hourglass is filled with paradoxes and traditional symbols, including some plot twists though not as mind-fucking as Saragossa, that it would be great to have a full-fledge conversation with anyone familiar with this director.
No Roscoe, YOU are the near total bore for not being able to fully expand your thoughts. What can you expect from a person who probably thinks Tim Burton is better than Has!!!!
i would like to hear about has’ other films! because hourglass and saragossa were both fantastical, i’d like to know how he tackles his more realistic films…
If someone would take on Has for the next directors’ cup, I would be absolutely delighted. And add to him Kawalerowicz, Skolimowski, Andrzej Munk and Aleksandr Ford. Too bad polish cinema lost with Andrzej Wajda as it’s only representant.
I second Matti, especially on having Has represented in the next cup. Many of his films have now become available like Lalka, his first feature in colour. Would be interesting to have the Quay Brothers alongside Has because their sense of design admittedly draws upon much of the later Has. Particularly, The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes is reminiscent of The Hourglass Sanatorium. And to the Polish wishlist, I’ll add Wladislaw Starewicz and the early Zanussi.
I’ve always thought of Has as being a more insightful Jodorowsky (not a slight on Jodorowsky – he is more visually inventive). The Saragossa Manuscript took me a few attempts to get into, but then so did many other films I have come to love. The Hourglass Sanatorium is still a firm favourite, as Has manages to add emotional and historical to an adventure/fantasy storyline.
I loved how the dreamy fantasy and aesthetic in the Hourglass Sanatorium was justified by the montage, it makes the film looks like a colorful and surrealist puzzle.
Dan8700
Just seen one of his rarest movies, A Loop (Petla, 1958), a work about a drunkard in his last 24 hours.
So, since there are no topics about this great master, how Wojciech is actually famous and appreciated in the world? Thoughts and all you want.