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The Color Of Pomegranates


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#1 Pilafhead

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Posted 25 July 2001 - 03:29 PM

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Is anyone familiar with this film? Is everyone but me familiar with it?

[ July 25, 2001: Message edited by: Aghmug ]

#2 MJ

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Posted 25 July 2001 - 04:22 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Aghmug:


Is anyone familiar with this film? Is everyone but me familiar with it?




Yes, Mike. It is a highly publicised movie - a pretty abstract one.

#3 MosJan

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Posted 25 July 2001 - 04:32 PM

BIG TIME abstract / it's one of the Parajanovs best works.

#4 MosJan

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Posted 25 July 2001 - 04:45 PM

Mj - Rustam yev Zohrab'n ela inq@ demadrel che kartsem ??

#5 MJ

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Posted 25 July 2001 - 04:51 PM

quote:
Originally posted by MosJan:
Mj - Rustam yev Zohrab'n ela inq@ demadrel ches kartsem ??

Chem hishum, MosJan.

Mike,

Check this:
/cgi-bin/forum/ultim...c&f=20&t=000053

#6 Harut

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Posted 25 July 2001 - 10:10 PM

"Rustam ev Zohrab@" Tajik-film a.
chem kartsum Parajanov@ lini.

but "the color of pomegranates" gets in my nervs. i still don't get the meaning.

#7 bellthecat

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Posted 26 July 2001 - 12:22 PM

quote:
Originally posted by MJ:


Yes, Mike. It is a highly publicised movie - a pretty abstract one.



It is not really at all "abstract" if you understand the references and know something about Caucasian art. Abstract art is non-representational in that it is something which makes no identifiable reference to the visible world. Parajanov's films are probably the exact opposite of that.

I regret never having been able to see any of his films on a cinema screen, but only on TV.

Steve

#8 MJ

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Posted 26 July 2001 - 12:47 PM

quote:
Originally posted by bellthecat:


It is not really at all "abstract" if you understand the references and know something about Caucasian art. Abstract art is non-representational in that it is something which makes no identifiable reference to the visible world. Parajanov's films are probably the exact opposite of that.

I regret never having been able to see any of his films on a cinema screen, but only on TV.

Steve



My usage of the word "Abstract" here has had nothing to do with the category of Abstract Art, but rather with the philosophical meaning of the word "Abstract." And in that sense, what you described in your passage indicates exactly the movie belonging to the [philosophical] "Abstract" category.

#9 Pilafhead

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Posted 26 July 2001 - 12:56 PM

CDNOW has the DVD of it available. I think I'm going to check it out.

I've loved that picture of the woman on the top-half of the cover for a long time. I never knew it came from a film.

Mike

#10 MosJan

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Posted 26 July 2001 - 01:20 PM

DVD ? no way -
let me see.
brb5

Movses

#11 MosJan

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Posted 26 July 2001 - 01:25 PM

From CDNOW:
Like Stanley Kubrick, Armenian filmmaker Sergei Paradjanov was an eccentric man who made films that are unlike the work of anyone else, full of exquisitely beautiful, often enigmatic images that transcend our usual notions of cinema. And like Kubrick he made only a few films in his lifetime -- often with gaps of many years between them. But unlike Kubrick, Paradjanov was not unprolific by choice. In the early 1970s during Kubrick's most fertile period, Paradjanov was languishing in a Soviet prison. The Color of Pomegranates, his 1969 masterpiece, was the last film Paradjanov would make before being sent to prison for 15 years.
Throughout his life Paradjanov struggled with Soviet authorities to make the kinds of films he wanted to make. His early films, made in the style of socialist realism, were hailed by filmmakers such as Alexander Dovzhenko, who directed the classics Earth, Arsenal, and The End of St. Petersburg. But in 1964 he made a break with this style with his innovative film Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors, hailed around the world as a fresh, new direction in Soviet cinema. But Soviet authorities found its esoteric imagery, ethnic subject matter, and fantasy elements threatening to the state. Finally, he was imprisoned for being homosexual and on such bizarrely trumped up charges as "trafficking in religious icons."

Like Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors, which was set in Ukraine, Color of Pomegranates is steeped in the culture of one of the now former Soviet republics. It's a biography of one of Armenia's most important poets, Sayat Nova. But it's not a biography in the strictest sense. Instead of linearly narrating his life, the film is a series of stunningly beautiful tableaux that give one an impression of his life and work.

For example, we are told that the poet read a lot as a child. But instead of showing us a child reading, we see him perched on a roof surrounds by hundreds of open books, their pages flapping in the breeze. It's an amazingly evocative way to tell a story, more akin to painting and sculpture than our usual notions of cinema. These tableaux illustrate events from his life, aspects of his work, evoke Armenian daily life and culture, or hint at something as enigmatic as poetry or as abstract as art or music. Watching a Paradjanov film is like going to an art gallery of moving paintings, full of dazzling, cryptic images in gorgeous color.

Paradjanov was a big influence on the other great Soviet cinematic genius of the late 20th century, Andrei Tarkovsky, who directed The Sacrifice, The Mirror, and Nostalghia. And Tarsem Singh, who directed The Cell and R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" video is indebted to his work. After Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, Paradjanov was released from prison, and he made two more great films, Legend of the Surami Fortress and Ashik Kerib, that pick up from where Pomegranates left off. Unfortunately, he died in 1990, and we will never know what might have happened if he had been permitted to freely express himself during the years he was idling away in prison. -- Al Weisel

CAST & CREW


Starring Cast
Sofiko Chiaureli
Melkop Alekyan
Vilen Galstyan
Georgiy Gegechkori
Avet Avetisyan


Supporting Cast
Spartak Bagashvili
Medeya Dzhaparidze
Onik Minasyan
M. Aleksanian
V. Galstian


Production Credits
Sergei Paradjanov: Director
A. Samvellian: Cinematographer

#12 MosJan

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Posted 26 July 2001 - 01:33 PM

i have just seen the first Armenian dvd or film by an Armenian filmmaker on DVD.I dont know what to say, Thank you brother <me hugging Mike>

#13 Pilafhead

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Posted 26 July 2001 - 02:16 PM

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#14 bellthecat

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Posted 27 July 2001 - 04:06 AM

quote:
Originally posted by MJ:


My usage of the word "Abstract" here has had nothing to do with the category of Abstract Art, but rather with the philosophical meaning of the word "Abstract." And in that sense, what you described in your passage indicates exactly the movie belonging to the [philosophical] "Abstract" category.



Yes, I see. I was just objecting to the use of (small "a") "abstract" because lot of people (myself included) dislike Abstract art, and to use the word abstract to describe Parajanov's films might put such people off from ever looking at them. (But "Abstract" is not just used as a description for paintings - it is also used as a style of film making, theatre presentation, etc).

Has anyone ever seen the music video that used a lot of clips from his films - apart from probably breaking just about every copyright law in the book, it completely overloaded your eyes and brain with visual images.

#15 MJ

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Posted 27 July 2001 - 04:30 AM

Steve,

Seems like you have passion towards the usage of capital and small letters.

But I love Abstract Art. Not to be confused with Contemporary Art.

#16 Kazza

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Posted 28 July 2001 - 06:55 AM

Opportunities to buy the film:
http://www.nextag.co...-4-n-main-1-htm

Also, what do think of this article?
http://www.eufs.org....megranates.html


By the way, I think the two on the cover look so beautiful together.

[ July 28, 2001: Message edited by: Kazza ]

#17 bellthecat

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Posted 28 July 2001 - 09:36 AM

quote:
Originally posted by MJ:
Steve,

But I love Abstract Art.



Because it was supported by the CIA (and similar agents of American Imperialisim )in the 1950s and 60s?

Kazza, have you seen the films in a cinema - if not what's your excuse! Over the last year there were two different festivals of Armenian culture that showed the films in London.

Steve

#18 MJ

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Posted 28 July 2001 - 12:15 PM

quote:
Originally posted by bellthecat:


Because it was supported by the CIA (and similar agents of American Imperialisim )in the 1950s and 60s?




What a Communist nonsense, Steve... Your primitivism increasingly puzzles me, I should confess.

First, of all, Abstract Art is born in Europe, and has subsequently been migrated to the US. Almost all Abstract Artists of the 50s and 60s are of European origin, though they have found a better working conditions in the US, subsequently, as it has always been the case in all disciplines.

Second, the Abstract Art doesn't depend on whether CIA supports it, or the KGB opposes it. It is a natural product of human imagination driven by the urge of understanding the most fundamental attributes of human mentality and perception, regardless of their secondary appearances.

On such capacity it is a continuation and evolution of the 19th century philosophical thought.

It is symptomatic of the drive for human liberties, which is also one of the most fundamental human necessities.

Finally, I am glad that you are not in the position of power, since given the opportunity, you would manifest yourself as our days Lunacharsky.

#19 Azat

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Posted 28 July 2001 - 12:30 PM

I am good friends of the daughter of the lady artist that did most of the artistic stuff including all the costume design for this film. Her name is Jasmine Sarabian and she won couple of awards in Cannes and Venice for her costume design.

Here is a sample of her works from this movie.

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If pictures do not show up please Click Here to see them.

Garo, what am I doing wrong? In preview the pictures show up, but when I post I get the missing image icon.

[ July 28, 2001: Message edited by: Azat ]

#20 ThornyRose

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Posted 28 July 2001 - 02:25 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Azat:
Garo, what am I doing wrong? In preview the pictures show up, but when I post I get the missing image icon.

[ July 28, 2001: Message edited by: Azat ]



Geocities does not allow "hotlinking" anymore... That's why. They want you to click on their sites.




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