Four of Them

-This is one of the best movies I've ever seen. Like, ever.

-I mean, I go in expecting some dour philosophical waxing and lots of screen-chess I'd offer some highly valuable advice to ("Yup, that's a Bishop. It sure does go that way."). But, dude. It was funny and sad and sweet and horrific and dude.

-You can tell how serious this is when I forgo psuedo-intellectual faux-criticism for pure, fangirlish squeals. This shit is hardcore.

-I mean...for good reason, the opening scene and the penultimate shot are the most iconic, but there's so much more...Death (Bengt Ekerot) is a dry, amiable dude who slacks off on the job to play some chess with a medieval monk (Max von Sydow, before he started playing all those Nazis) who's Time has Come. As the game goes on for awhile, the monk and his squire (Gunnar Björnstrand) go about the countryside, avoiding the Black Death and picking up various passengers, including a family of actors/jugglers (Nils Poppe and Bibi Andersson), and their young son.

-I'd watch this again. It's just so layered, this time around, I watched on pure superficial level (story, acting). But next time, I gotta look into the themes. And junk.

-I like this Ingmar Bergman guy. Except every time I read his name, I think of Ingrid Bergman. Hm.

-So, anyway. Go watch this motherfucker.