This weekend tribute to the late director runs Saturday and Sunday, August 11 and 12, with screenings at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division. Unless otherwise noted, tickets are $7; a $20 pass admits you to all screenings. For more information call 773-278-1500 or visit www.chopintheatre.com.
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RSawdust and Tinsel A major early feature by Bergman, also known as The Naked Night (though the Swedish title apparently means “The Clown’s Night”). This 1953 film is perhaps the most German expressionist of Bergman’s 50s works, as redolent of sexual cruelty and angst as Variety and The Blue Angel, but no less impressive for all that. The aging owner of a small traveling circus who left his wife for a young performer in his troupe tries to regain his lost family. Visually splendid, but you may find the masochistic plot pretty unpleasant. With Ake Gronberg and Harriet Andersson. In Swedish with subtitles. 92 min. (JR) 16mm. Reader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum will introduce the screening and lead a discussion afterward. a 4:15 PM.
RFanny and Alexander Bergman’s 1983 feature, condensed from a much longer TV series, is less an autumnal summation of his career than an investigation of its earliest beginnings: through the figure of ten-year-old Alexander (Bertil Guve), Bergman traces the storytelling urge, developing from dreams and fairy tales into theater and (implicitly) movies. The film doesn’t so much surmount Bergman’s usual shortcomings–the crude contrasts, heavy symbolism, and preachy philosophizing–as find an effective context for them. Tied to a child’s mind, the oversimplifications become the stuff of myth and legend. As in The Night of the Hunter, a realistic psychological drama is allowed to expand into fantasy; the result is one of Bergman’s most haunting and suggestive films. With Ewa Froling and Gunn Wallgren. In Swedish with subtitles. 197 min. (DK) DVD projection. Tickets are $5; Gabe Klinger of Columbia College will introduce the screening. a 7 PM.
Ingmar Bergman Complete See listing for Sat 8/11. a 8 PM.
