I Am Curious, Film

((JAG AR NYFIKEN, FILM))

(SWEDISH -- DOCU) A British Film Institute presentation of a Cinetogon production, in association with TV4 (Stockholm), Nordic Film & TV Fund (Oslo), Northern Lights Film & TV Produksjon, Danmarks Radio TV, Finnish Broadcasting Co. TV1, Icelandic National Broadcasting Service-Television. Produced by Lennart Duner. Executive producer, Anna-Lena Wibom. Directed, written by Stig Bjorkman. Camera (color), Stefan Kullangen; editor, Bertil Ljungstedt; music, Matti Bye; art direction, Rickard Molin; sound, Ulf Darin, Claes H. Bergstrom. Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (Window on Images), Aug. 31, 1995. Running time: 53 MIN.

Narrator: Lena Nyman

Anyone desiring a quick introduction to or stimulating recap of Scandi cinema will find "I Am Curious, Film" a seductive initiation. Documaker Stig Bjorkman has pieced together a highly personal and amusing Nordic entry in the British Film Institute's centennial series of personal looks by filmers at national industries. Insightful and imaginative, pic should be a sought-after TV item, as well as a lasting reference source for students and film fans.

Starting with the opening sequence of a flickering film projector from Bergman's 1966 "Persona," Bjorkman brings actress Lena Nyman onscreen to ferry the viewer through the film with dreamy charm. A haunting close-up of a young Greta Garbo in 1925 and the sensual dancing of silent actress Asta Nielsen evoke the origins of Nordic filmmaking. The clips, ranging from films by Victor Sjostrom and Carl Th. Dreyer to Astrid Henning-Jensen and Aki Kaurismaki, are well chosen to thrill cinephiles and tantalize neophytes. Bergman keeps reappearing, as though to weave the many strands of Nordic cinema together with his magic and genius.

Docu strikes just the right pace, interspersing clips, narration and live interviews. Erland Josephson talks about acting, Liv Ullmann about how her club of women filmmakers invited Ingrid Bergman to lunch. Cinematographer Sven Nykvist discusses working with Ingmar Bergman, and director Lars Von Trier considers Dreyer's influence on his work.

The inspiration filmmakers have drawn from Northern light and landscape is underlined in the Icelandic excerpts. Nyman's relaxed narration and staged "interviews" discuss film as art without complexes or pretensions.

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