88 replies to this topic

[Overstreet]

Persiflage, on 02 February 2012 - 12:57 PM, said:

As far as I'm concerned, Lech Majewski could spend the next decade making a series of similar films all meant to only explore famous paintings and I would be enthusiastically pay to see every one of them.

Oh, man... somebody, make it happen.

[Russ]

Did anybody pick up the DVD? I'd like to hear opinions about the extras, in particular.

It's seventeen bucks and change for the non-Blu Ray at deep discount DVD, and I could see this being a DVD I'd show groups at church and lend out to friends.

[SDG]

Russ, on 24 February 2012 - 03:09 PM, said:

Did anybody pick up the DVD? I'd like to hear opinions about the extras, in particular.

It's seventeen bucks and change for the non-Blu Ray at deep discount DVD, and I could see this being a DVD I'd show groups at church and lend out to friends.

I've got the Blu-ray and will be evaluating the extras this weekend.

[vjmorton]

Russ, on 24 February 2012 - 03:09 PM, said:

Did anybody pick up the DVD? I'd like to hear opinions about the extras, in particular.

I think the Blu-Ray comes with paintings depicting the filming process (makes the box kinda unwieldy for putting in your shopping cart, though).

[Russ]

Along those lines, I want to extend outward the cross-pollinization of artforms. Like, I want to write a poem about Majewski making this movie about the book that dude wrote about Bruegel's painting.

[Buckeye Jones]

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Perhaps because having seen the original painting in Vienna a few years back, or because I haven't seen the other painting related films referenced above, I found this to be not dull but completely engrossing, from the visuals to the sparse dialog of Bruegel and his patron. I wouldn't be surprised to see this make the Top 100 next time the list comes around.

[Timothy Zila]

Slight update:

While I haven't revisited the film again yet, the Professor for my History of the Reformation class used Bruegel's paintings as a way to review for the (written) final. Getting a look at more of Bruegel's art definitely makes me want to revisit The Mill and the Cross.

[Christian]

New “Mill and Cross” Book Reveals More About “Way To Calvary”

http://www.artsjourn...to-calvary.html

To my own regret, I did not see the recent film, “The Mill and The Cross,” filmmaker Lech Majewski’s 2011 restaging of Peter Bruegel’s 1564 masterpiece, “The Way to Calvary.” Adapted from the 2001 book by independent art critic Michael Francis Gibson (who also co-wrote the screenplay), it won raves.

More happily, I am now in the possession of a new edition of the original book — and it’s stunning. Published in English, French (at left) and German (University of Levana Press), the book contains a two-page spread of the whole painting, plus 130 details from every part of it. It also offers new material, “including stills from the film, photos of the shooting,” and — better yet — “a number of as yet unpublished details hidden deep inside the painting – aspects of what might rightly be termed the invisible Bruegel.” [their boldface, not mine] More about which in a minute.

Edited by Christian, 19 May 2012 - 08:13 AM.

[StephenM]

I managed to procure a copy of the book from my college library through interlibrary loan. It was beautifully illustrated and very insightful. Not a hard read at all, no technical jargon, just interesting observations and details, plus a little speculation and imagination. It had plenty of things that weren't in the film, as well as some interpretations that might actually conflict with the film's presentation. I definitely recommend checking it out if you can.