Word: bergmans
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...tell a good movie straight away when you see it, because you can't see it too well. Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" has proved so popular with audiences that the Harvard Film Archive's print jumps on the first subtitle from all its wear and tear...
...will want a head start; "Wild Strawberries" is one of those movies which seems pregnant with a cosmic wisdom that eluded you this time, but if you just concentrate a little harder... So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the movie theater. Of course, Bergman can't explain the human condition any more successfully than Ace Ventura, but he makes you think he can. He pieces together life's regrets, failures, foibles and aspirations with such a knowing hand that you can't help expecting a revelation any frame...
This life-flashing-before-your-eyes scenario perfectly complements Bergman's striking, stark camerawork. Silhouettes, chiseled features and barebones austerity leap from every image. Even the cluttered country houses accentuate by their very contrast the simple, arresting composition of every frame. Bergman boils down sets and actors to ideal types: the old seem remarkably wrinkly and thoughtful, the young unbelievably unblemished and ebullient...
Inevitably, from time to time Bergman strays from eerie unreality into sheer unbelievability. His hitchhikers haven't been aboard for two minutes before they've revealed their whole sexual history; while one couple crashes their car, jauntily introduces themselves and then settles down to hearty physical abuse in the back seat. Such individual twists--rather than the overall tone--come across as contrived...
Herein lies Bergman's real genius. For by merely insinuating deep inner meanings, he tantalizes his audience. The proof is in the projector--each scratch in the print betrays a past crowd of mesmerized moviegoers...