Saturday, January 20, 2007

Reports of Ingmar Bergman's death have been greatly exaggerated

I think it says a lot about Richard Corliss' ability to sustain reader interest that no one made it to the second-to-last paragraph of his tedious rant about the Sundance Film Festival. Well, either that, or everyone besides me is too polite to point out that -- no, Richard, Ingmar Bergman has not yet joined the Choir Invisible.

BTW: Just in case the posting has been, ahem, revised by the time you get to it, here's the money quote:

"What's saddest is that the ersatz indie drove out the previously dominant alternative to Hollywood: the foreign film. Bergman, Fellini and Truffaut are dead, but there are still exciting, challenging movies being made in Europe, Latin America and especially Asia. Some of these films get theatrical release, but to see many top films from Japan, South Korea, China, Thailand and India you need to rent them. A good video store or a specialty DVD catalog is the new art house. Trying to get your intellectual fill with Sundance films is like choosing homemade popcorn over the concession-stand variety: higher quality, little nourishment."

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