My birthday present extraordinaire was Criterion’s Janus collection of 50 classic films. We decided to go in alphabetical order of the films rather than chronological or even grouped by director. So the first film we watched was Sergei Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky, a semi historical Russian propaganda film. What is arresting in this film is how modern the scenes are, while how operatic the acting is. Nikolai Cherkasov fills the screen like a modern day actor with his strong square jaw and handsome eyes.
I got up in my hotel room this morning with no newspaper and turned to CNN Headline News and was struck by how absurd the program was – as if geared for people in need of a pop song fix – I instantly turned it off and looked out over the golf course and longed for film number two.