[thecincykiddo]

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I think he slipped into his own navel and fell to his death.

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That seems a bit severe, but I'm with you on the overratedness.

He's worth studying...but worth worshiping?


As for directors with high quantities of great films, I think it's altogether too easy to forget about the "who you know" and the "where you were," not to mention how many directors lucked into their jobs. Would Hitchcock have been able to make as many movies and to the scale that he did if he hadn't lucked out at Paramount?

What I like best about Bergman is that he was a true artist. It's almost like you need a tragedy of some sort in your life to be able to be an artist that really accomplishes something lasting in the way of human connections. I see self-styled artists, a lot of them these days, who've never really lived let alone survived anything really tragic making empty things. Or worse, making their lives (and the lives of those who love them) harder than they need to be because they're aware that their lives have lacked some serious depth and experience and they feel the need to compensate. Sometimes that works.

Bergman didn't need that. When your parents lock you in a closet (starting at the age of five?) and tell you to pray for your life, I imagine the path is sort of laid out.