Yogi's Movie Consumption Blog

The Danish prince strikes again - this time residing in Russia. Apart from having some desperately needed cuts to the Lawrence Olivier's version, this film has an outstanding cinematography. Compared to this version, Olivier's rendering seems a bit stiff and stuffy - despite it's own qualities. Just as with Olivier, also this Hamlet seems quite a bit too old for the part. But he works with that beautifully. I guess that as a result, some of the love scenes were shortened - as far as I can remember. Despite the amazing work and the unchained camera in many scenes, the final sword fight cannot shake its stagy-ness.  But the memorable aspects of this movie for me were mostly the images of looming doom and despair. Black and white seems the perfect medium to tell this. Many images are shot out of dark hallways, into punctually lit courtyards. Fog is abundant and the camera seems to tiptop behind the actors as they stumble through this medieval labyrinth. Another spe...

A lonely wife of a newspaper editor falls in love with his bohemian brother. Unfortunately, I didn't get drawn in by the movie enough emotionally, but nevertheless I could admire the perfect direction. I will definitely rewatch this film at some point. It can be a matter of mood, sometimes. The whole film plays practically all through in a few confined rooms, with a few exceptions towards the end of the film. The ending of the film has some visually unusual choices visually of which I felt a bit uneasy. But the beginning of the movie is fascinating to study. It shows Charulata alone and we get introduced to her life and her character without barely a word. During the opening credits, two female hands are seen, stitching. The silk and the hand seem refined, so we can guess that this is not a poor woman in the street. Then the camera pulls back and shows Charulata on the bed. Ray uses tracking for most of these first shots, following his protagonist around the house. The who...