Ingmar Bergman, plus a Big Baby

Finally made it to one of the Bergman screenings at the Cinematheque last night. The Seventh Seal and, more excitingly (because I've never seen it before) The Rite. If anyone is reading this while the festival is ongoing, I highly recommend The Rite, in which art and the state interrogate each other with considerable cruelty and suspicion and the human condition is held up for us to contemplate. Lots of close-up shots and a fair bit of acting out on the part of the actors reminded me, oddly enough, of Cassavetes' Faces, but of course it's a lot colder and more idea-driven than a Cassavetes film; plus it's from 1969, so I assume Bergman hadn't seen Faces at that point. It plays again on Monday the 24th, in a double bill with Sawdust and Tinsel.

In other news: a woman in Brazil has given birth to a 17 pound boy. I was relieved to read it happened by C-section!