The color of pomegranates (1969)

When this film started, i thought it was a really interesting introduction sequence. Well it turned out that wasn’t an introduction sequence, that was the whole film, and what felt novel and exciting for the first ten minutes did not feel quite so novel and exciting eighty minutes later.

It seems that i’m a heathen when it comes to film. All the critics seem to hold it in very high regard. But i am not a critic, and i like films that make me think, or make me laugh. This film did in fact do both of these, but i’m not sure that the thinking and laughing i was doing were intended by the film maker. There is little dialogue, just the occasional cryptic panel of text.

That’s not to say that the film wasn’t beautiful. It reminded me of a wes anderson film, if wes anderson was armenian and full of psychedelics, except of course this film came out thirty years before wes anderson started doing anything. In that regard, it’s impressive, in the same way that david bowie’s music is impressive when you take into consideration the kind of stuff that was being recorded at the same time. It also reminded me of some of the more esoteric works of james joyce. It’s not a film for the people, it’s a film for one person, and that person is the director.

They say that it’s worth learning something like lisp even if you never plan to program in lisp, because it will make any other programs you write in any other language better. And they say that you should learn another language, because it will rekindle your love of your own language. In the same way, i think that everyone should watch this film, because it encourages you to deeply consider what films are for and why you watch them. As offensive as it may be to some people, i would put the velocipastor in the same basket.

Although it’s short, it feels long. Although it’s beautiful, it feels jarring. And although it is simple, it is very difficult to describe.