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Color of Pomegranates (The) AKA Sayat Nova AKA The Colour of Pomegranates
R0 - United Kingdom - Second Sight Review written by and copyright: Mark McManus (11th August 2011). |
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The Film
 18th Century Armenian poet Sayat Nova’s life is told in this visually stunning film from the former Soviet Union. The film isn’t strictly a biography – in fact a Moscow-imposed title card at the beginning of the film suggests (or warns) the viewer to not see it as such – rather, director Sergei Paradjanov uses Nova’s own writings to tell the story of his life in a series of exquisitely staged tableaux, that combine into one long visual poem. The film is indeed visually very impressive, with some intricately designed shot compositions, many of which feature only small, deliberate movement, in locations as diverse as barren dirt ground to monestary roofs. Adding to the surreal air is actress Sofiko Chiaureli, who plays several male and female roles, including Nova as a youth, his muse, a mime and an angel. As well as 'writing' and directing, Paradjanov had a hand in the editing, the choreography, the costumes and the set design, making this an intensly personal tribute from one artist to another. But the film's journey to the screen was far from smooth... Perhaps unsurprisingly, for a film made in Armenia under the tight reigns of Soviet rule, The Colour of Pomegranates has had a colourful history. As well as having a name change - from the original 'Sayat Nova' - enforced, Paradjanov's original cut of the film was tampered with first by the Armenian studio, Armenfilm, before its local release, and then by the Moscow-based distributor Goskino, who replaced on-screen title cards with Russian text and employed Sergei Yutkevitch to re-cut the film further before its release in the rest of the USSR and overseas. It seems that an original film print of the Armenian cut no longer exists, and while a print of the original untampered director's cut is rumoured to be languishing somewhere in the Armenfilm vaults, it has yet to see the light of day, so the version included on this disc is the Russian release. Perhaps the film’s reputation built up my expectations a little too much, but as visually impressive as it is, I’m not sure I can honestly say I enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong, I pride myself on my wide and eclectic film collection, and this is certainly the kind of thing I would normally seek out, but in this case I just didn’t ‘get’ it. That’s simply a personal view of course, and even though I don’t share the opinions of the film’s many fans, I can understand and appreciate why they like it, mainly thanks to the high quality of the extra features included on this disc.
Video
Presented in its original 4:3 aspect ratio, video quality is pretty average, which I suppose is forgivable given the origins of the film. While containing a respectable level of detail, colours do leave a bit to be desired; as well as being slightly washed out – a real shame given the care taken in the composition of images and the colourful costumes and so on being filmed – the image does show also show some colour instability, with regular shifts toward red, likely down to the quality of the print used. Finally, as well as some light print damage, there is some side-to-side instability to the image. Whether this is down to the quality of the print used or the telecine process it’s difficult to say. Overall I would have to say I was quite disappointed. The film is rightly praised for its visuals, and while I’m sure that Second Sight have done their very best with the materials they had, it’s a shame that, for its UK DVD premier, the film doesn’t have that visual punch that it deserves.
Audio
As with the video, the 2.0 mono audio presentation here is not perfect, with a degree of background hiss throughout. However, luckily for a film where the audio is arguably as important as the visuals, there is plenty of detail to be heard here. It would be wrong to expect miracles here, and given that a 5.1 remix would be overkill – and probably not even possible given the source materials – the soundtrack is perfectly serviceable. According to the English subtitles, there appears to be a mix of Eastern European spoken languages, including Armenian and Georgian.
Extras
Worth watching first is the 2m 56s video introduction by Daniel Bird, who was instrumental is putting this disc together. In the brief but informative piece to camera, he explains a little about the 2 versions – Armenian and Russian/international – of the film that are in existence, and how they came to be. The version on this disc is Russian, which was edited without Paradjanov’s input. However, as Bird says, it’s not a black and white case that the Armenian version is the ‘director’s cut’, as it too was meddled with by the studio before release. The main attraction in the extra features is a 1hr 16m documentary ‘The World is a Window: Making the Colour of Pomegranates’, by Daniel Bird. Featuring talking head interviews with western and Eastern European academics, former associates and actors. As well as discussion of the film itself, the documentary offers a great insight into Paradjanov’s past work, and provides some essential wider context around the practical and political difficulties that film-makers faced under the Soviet regime. Whatever your opinion of the film itself, this documentary will at least give you a better understanding and appreciation of the ideas and intentions behind it. ‘Memories of Sayat Nova’ (30m 21s, Georgian language/English subs) in which Paradjanov’s assistant, by Levon Grigoryan, gives a voiceover to several sequences from the film which serve to both try and explain the meaning of some of the visuals, as well as Paradjanov’s intentions. It has to be said that the quality of the film clips here make the main feature look pristine. Finally, we get an audio commentary from Levon Abrahamyan, a cultural anthropologist from the Armenian Academy of Sciences, who worked on the film as a student. While his English is good, his accent is quite strong, so it may take a few minutes to ‘tune in’ to his commentary. Abrahamyan, who also appears in Daniel Bird’s documentary, is apparently given plenty of off-mic prompting by Bird, which helps to get some interesting stories out of him, as well as offering more context to both on-screen and behind-the-scenes goings on.
Overall
While maybe not to everyone’s taste, The Colour of Pomegranates is never the less worth a watch, and is certainly an important cultural work. A great set of extras, and no doubt a huge personal effort from Daniel Bird, definitely help to present the film in the best light, and I would still recommend giving it a watch.
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