I met Death today. We are playing chess.

Ingmar Bergman died the other day and so I went on a quest to find any of my previously written reviews of his movies. However, I couldn't find any, although I'm pretty sure I wrote a couple somewhere. It seems to be fashionable to be like Scalzi and say that, while you don't enjoy his films, you understand his genius, which is similar to what many folks say about the "Great" novels of the 18th and 19th century.

But much like those novels, I have truly enjoyed every Bergman film I've seen. Admittedly, I've only touched on the pinnacle of his achievements, but I rank The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries as two of my all time favorite movies. In fact, I would consider The Seventh Seal as part of my nascent Desert Island movie list, because there are just so many things going on that repeated viewings are a must. There are so many iconic images in that film, beginning with, of course, the chess game with death:

Symbolism is rampant in both films, but it never felt forced to me. Wild Strawberries even opens with an extended dream sequence, which normally annoys me to no end, but in this case works very well.

Next up for me would be Fanny and Alexander, which I have in DVD (the movie version). And I see that Criterion (who did the excellent DVDs I saw of Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries) has a bunch of Bergman films (natch), including what looks like a very interesting trilogy of The Silence, Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light, which would make a great purchase.

Wild Strawberries - Criterion Collection

The Seventh Seal - Criterion Collection