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Иван Грозный (Ivan The Terrible Part I)

  • Director: Sergei Eisenstein
  • Year: 1944
I have great admiration for Eisenstein's early films, and their distinct non-Western communalist style. His later films, with their integration of distinct characters, don't work quite as well for me.  It's hard at the beginning of this film to recognize which characters are important - since the camera moves back and forth quickly, with frequent dialogue meant to establish communal opinions, it takes a while for me at least to recognize the main leads. Combined with the often glacial pacing, this was a difficult watch for me. Nevertheless, the always excellent cinematography leads to a fever-dream atmosphere that I appreciated (it's a dangerous film to watch in an anxious state) and the characteristic symbolism makes it possible to follow on a subconscious level, even if it's not clear what's going on in terms of events. I am looking forward to Part II to get a better analysis.

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