quote:
The Killers is a 1956 student film by the Soviet and Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky and his fellow students Marika Beiku and Aleksandr Gordon. It is based on the short story "The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway, written in 1927. It was Tarkovsky's first film, produced when he was a student at the State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK).

Students were required to work on films in groups of two or threes due to a lack of equipment at the film school VGIK. Andrei Tarkovsky and Aleksandr Gordon asked Marika Beiku to work with them. The idea for adapting Ernest Hemingway's short story was Tarkovsky's. All roles were played by students of the VGIK, and the camera and lighting was handled by fellow students Alfredo Álvarez and Aleksandr Rybin.

Pretty damn impressive student film. Little camera movement, but the lighting is excellent, as are the sets and pacing. If the film has a flaw it's the student casting, specifically the killers themselves, who are just too young -- they come across more as decadent Rope types rather than hardened mob hitmen.

Tarkovsky himself appears as the whistling customer.

Essay on the film

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Posted by Kafka

I am the moral conscience of TD

Member since Jul 2007

142456 posts

Posted on 2/7/13 at 11:55 am to Kafka

Vidal in Venice (1985)

In this documentary first shown on Britain's channel 4, the American novelist, essayist, playwright, wit, curmudgeon and political crank Gore Vidal casts his cynical eye on the City Of Water.

Vidal contrasts the city's heritage as a maritime power with its current status as a tourist attraction, also noting the many legendary painters, composers, and writers who have lived there. But this is no dry stroll down history lane -- Vidal turns his snarky wit on everybody from Casanova to Hemingway, and his narration is often very funny. There's also a lot of great film of Venice museums, hotels, and landmarks (the villa he visits on an estate near the city, with its "spying" paintings, is particularly memorable), as well as the celebration of Carnival, aka Carnevale (carne vale = Italian for "Flesh Farewell").

This is probably my favorite travelogue ever. A must see for experienced travelers as well as armchair adventurers.

Gore Vidal sits on the Doge's throne in the Palazzo Ducale:

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