antonius block & annie hall

by Ryland Walker Knight

I don't think Ingmar gets enough props, honestly. I know I haven't seen every director out there and definitely not all of the directors everybody lauds, but aside from Ingmar and Kieslowski, who's better at that whole existential dilemma on screen? And if you say Lars von Trier, I'll kick you in the gut. Not only does Ingmar bring the closest thing to live theatre to cinema, he also brings some of the best symbolism these eyes have seen. And I wear glasses. Every time I watch an Ingmar movie I get all worked up like this, too. So here's a list of some favorites:

Fanny & Alexander
Wild Strawberries
Persona
Cries & Whispers
Scenes from a marriage
The Seventh Seal

I look forward to doing a D-cal detailing the inspiration Woody drew from Ingmar that is evident in particular in
Wild Strawberries/Deconstructing Harry
Cries & Whistpers/Hannah & Her Sisters
but can be found all over the place in Woody's work. Also, I want to show how the first pair's vignette structure works like a series of short stories and how the second pair is like a musical with all those solos. Of course, both are more aparant in Woody's movies, but it'll be a tool to show how you can use different structures for different genres effectively.
Also, wouldn't you take a class called "Antonius Block & Annie Hall: How Woody Allen stole everything from Ingmar Bergman, sorta."