Cranes are Flying is an amazing picture (as is Letter Never Sent, also directed by Mikhail Kalatozov – oddly, I’ve never seen I Am Cuba, for which he is most known over here), but David, you’ve misremembered the plot. Boris, the lover sent off to war, is indeed killed over there, surprisingly early in the film, too. Veronika doesn’t believe that until it’s proven to her at the very end. It’s more a companion to Flesh & the Devil by contrast, he dies and she doesn’t move on.
Sounds like you may’ve forgotten just enough that seeing it again may be a real treat.
And see Letter Never Sent. It’s very different, and a very, very neat picture.
Maybe because it feels the same? There is this tinge of should I or shouldn’t I feel guilty in the way she won’t let go of her hope that he’s alive. I wonder if it’s something like that, where it’s got a similar emotional melodic structure, but the notes are different. And you’re right, we – well not we, we find out right as he dies, but does not find out that he did indeed die until the end. Meanwhile, his family keeps her in like a proper daughter, handling her with some real grace even though she can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, which makes the final shots pretty great.
And are there many movies whose lighting is as effective as it is odd? This is such a lovely picture.
And you must see Letter Never Sent. It has a similar level of real human warmth, and a different kind of high level cinematic artistry, in what must be one of the most amazing forest fire sequences ever committed to film, not seen in grandeur, like some opening shots in Apocalypse Now, but from the inside, as our team try to get out of it.
Cranes are Flying is an amazing picture (as is Letter Never Sent, also directed by Mikhail Kalatozov – oddly, I’ve never seen I Am Cuba, for which he is most known over here), but David, you’ve misremembered the plot. Boris, the lover sent off to war, is indeed killed over there, surprisingly early in the film, too. Veronika doesn’t believe that until it’s proven to her at the very end. It’s more a companion to Flesh & the Devil by contrast, he dies and she doesn’t move on.
Sounds like you may’ve forgotten just enough that seeing it again may be a real treat.
And see Letter Never Sent. It’s very different, and a very, very neat picture.
Damn. Is it maybe that we don’t find out he’s been killed until longer? Why do I have this bad memory?!
– David
Maybe because it feels the same? There is this tinge of should I or shouldn’t I feel guilty in the way she won’t let go of her hope that he’s alive. I wonder if it’s something like that, where it’s got a similar emotional melodic structure, but the notes are different. And you’re right, we – well not we, we find out right as he dies, but does not find out that he did indeed die until the end. Meanwhile, his family keeps her in like a proper daughter, handling her with some real grace even though she can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, which makes the final shots pretty great.
And are there many movies whose lighting is as effective as it is odd? This is such a lovely picture.
And you must see Letter Never Sent. It has a similar level of real human warmth, and a different kind of high level cinematic artistry, in what must be one of the most amazing forest fire sequences ever committed to film, not seen in grandeur, like some opening shots in Apocalypse Now, but from the inside, as our team try to get out of it.
‘She’ does not find out that he did indeed die until the end. My she got cut.