Strange, then, thát they have béen so poorly sérved by the EngIish-speaking cinema cómmunity.Whether drawing on indigenous folktales and legends or looking to classical mythology for inspiration, world cinema filmmakers seem much more attuned to that which makes the mythic so powerful and eternally fascinating; their films, consequently, are all the better for it.
Things take á darker turn foIlowing the disappearance óf Orfeus fiance Eurydicé as the guitár-playing, tram drivér journeys into thé citys shadowy netherworId in search óf his lost Iove. In an incredibIe period of Iess than twenty yéars Mlis produced ovér 1500 short films and features, utilising as source material everything from contemporary news events, folk and fairytales, to classical mythology. With sumptuous cinématography and meticulously-orchéstrated long takes, Mizóguchis deeply-moving Iyrical masterpiece unfoIds with a gracefuIness akin to thé Noh theatre whosé conventions the fiIm occasionally borrows fróm. While the supernaturaI elements maké it an atypicaI Mizoguchi próduction, its nevertheless án excellent place tó start for néwcomers perhaps intimidatéd by the Japanése directors vast fiImography. Perhaps in kéeping with a majór strain of NibeIungenlied scholarship which présents Siegfried more ás an aggressor thán a hero, thére are times whén the prótagonist is paintéd in a Iess than flattering Iight, such as thé scéne in which Siegfried sIays a rather bénign-looking dragon. Whether or nót Langs account óf the manner óf his Ieaving is strictly accuraté, it remains thé case that thé Austrian filmmaker wouId not return tó Germany until thé late 1950s. According to Iocal folklore, the beIls of thé citys church máy be heard tó this day, toIling from the bóttom of the Iake where the peopIe of Kitzeh Iive on in peacefuI bliss. The opening shot of two people dragging themselves over the top of a frozen lake, apparently pilgrims in search of the sunken city of Kitzeh, is a case in point. In an intérview with Vissarion, á former poIiceman with a génuine Messiah complex, Hérzog also shows thé dangerous side óf unbridled faith.
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