56 / BD 44 The Lighthouse
- Dadapass
- Joined: Thu Oct 09, 2008 6:57 pm
56 / BD 44 The Lighthouse
The Lighthouse (Mayak)
A film by Maria Sakyaan
Armenia 2007
Maria Saakyan's elegiac, semi-autobiographical slice-of-life drama The Lighthouse unfolds against the backdrop of the Caucasus wars that plagued Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in the early 1990s.
As the scope of this mass-scaled conflict extends itself to one woman's small village, she is forced to drop everything, move to Moscow, and start over from scratch - thus bidding farewell to her hometown and way of life, perhaps indefinitely.
Maria Sakyaan's The Lighthouse (Mayak) added to Second Run's Coming Soon page.
A film by Maria Sakyaan
Armenia 2007
Maria Saakyan's elegiac, semi-autobiographical slice-of-life drama The Lighthouse unfolds against the backdrop of the Caucasus wars that plagued Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in the early 1990s.
As the scope of this mass-scaled conflict extends itself to one woman's small village, she is forced to drop everything, move to Moscow, and start over from scratch - thus bidding farewell to her hometown and way of life, perhaps indefinitely.
Maria Sakyaan's The Lighthouse (Mayak) added to Second Run's Coming Soon page.
- colinr0380
- Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
- Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK
Re: The Lighthouse
A small picture of what looks to be a quite beautiful cover for this film. Moviemail's page suggests it is being released in March)
- What A Disgrace
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:34 pm
- Contact:
Re: The Lighthouse
Its refreshing to see Second Run releasing debut features by very new directors, with this, Tarn's Black Sun, and Marais's Unpolished. I have to ask, Bikey, how did you come across this film, and what made Second Run decide to pick it up?
- MichaelB
- Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
- Location: Worthing
- Contact:
Re: The Lighthouse
I suspect Bikey saw it when I did: at the London Film Festival two or three years back. It got quite a few votes in Sight & Sound's end-of-year poll, as I recall.
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: The Lighthouse
Did you like it much? I'm pretty much willing to blindly trust Second Run at this point, but what little info I can get on the movie is very divisive.
- What A Disgrace
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:34 pm
- Contact:
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
I reckon you just sold me.
- Bikey
- Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
Full details of this release are now here at our website.
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
Neato on the short film. I always love those sorts of extras because of how they allow the main feature to be put into a better context.
- Bikey
- Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
E-Film Blog - reviewed by Michael Ewins
- Bikey
- Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
DVD Outsider declares The Lighthouse "A true landmark film"
- Oedipax
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:48 am
- Location: Atlanta
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
Received my DVD today and just finished watching the film, which is quite beautiful and reminiscent of Tarkovsky as others have already mentioned. Set against a concrete historical backdrop, it nonetheless has a very dreamlike, perhaps even metaphysical quality. The newsreel/archive footage (most of which looks to have been shot at the time on low-grade video) is an interesting contrast to the main narrative's sumptuous 35mm texture and adds another dimension to the film, almost essay-like. The score is also superb, and it doesn't surprise me to read that Saakyan counts Greenaway as an influence, as some of the cues had a very Nyman-esque flavor.
I look forward to repeat viewings of this one, and I still need to check out the short film as well. Great release!
I look forward to repeat viewings of this one, and I still need to check out the short film as well. Great release!
- Bikey
- Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
A wonderful review in this week's Time Out
- Bikey
- Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
A small but rather wonderful review from the current issue of Empire Magazine.
- Bikey
- Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
Gordon Thomas reviews The Lighthouse in the latest Bright Lights Film Journal
- manicsounds
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
Is the DVD not flagged for 16:9 playback? It gets squished to 1.33:1 on my system. I had to manually 'stretch' the image to fill the 16:9 frame.
And by the way, this film having a score of 4.7/10 on imdb is a crime.... and even worse is the short film having 1.3/10... Who are these haters?
And by the way, this film having a score of 4.7/10 on imdb is a crime.... and even worse is the short film having 1.3/10... Who are these haters?
- bunuelian
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 11:49 am
- Location: San Diego
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
Another good reason to ignore IMDB ratings completely.
My disc was 16:9 out of the gates. Perhaps it's a hardware oddity?
This is a compelling film that feels a bit raw around the edges, like a first film of a director left to make her own mistakes should. Saakyan used a lot of complex techniques - some from Tarkovsky, sure, but the parallel strikes me as lazy and hugely incomplete considering the range of the film. It feels like a rare thing to see, which makes another kudo to Second Run in order.
My disc was 16:9 out of the gates. Perhaps it's a hardware oddity?
This is a compelling film that feels a bit raw around the edges, like a first film of a director left to make her own mistakes should. Saakyan used a lot of complex techniques - some from Tarkovsky, sure, but the parallel strikes me as lazy and hugely incomplete considering the range of the film. It feels like a rare thing to see, which makes another kudo to Second Run in order.
Last edited by bunuelian on Mon May 16, 2011 3:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- manicsounds
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
Maybe so,
all my Warner/MK2 Chaplin DVDs get stretched out to 16:9 for some reason, and "Lighthouse" is like the exact opposite. These are the weird ones on my BD player.
And yes, I seriously urge others to watch this one. I hope her second feature will get a release and completion sometime soon.
all my Warner/MK2 Chaplin DVDs get stretched out to 16:9 for some reason, and "Lighthouse" is like the exact opposite. These are the weird ones on my BD player.
And yes, I seriously urge others to watch this one. I hope her second feature will get a release and completion sometime soon.
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
- Location: SLC, UT
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
I tried to watch a Warner Chaplin DVD a few weeks ago and had the same problem. It actually didn't stretch the image, but zoomed it in to fill the 16:9 screen, cropping the top and bottom with no way to restore this part of the image. I tried this on three different Blu-ray players and had the same problem on each. It only ended up working correctly on a DVD player.
- jbeall
- Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:22 am
- Location: Atlanta-ish
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
Quite good, although as bunuelian suggests, it's also got signs of a first-time director finding her way. The direction at times calls attention to itself--so lovely at times, the roving camera starts to become nuisance toward the end--but Saakyan has a wonderful eye for composition and there are a number of really beautiful shots. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more from this director.
- manicsounds
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
Sorry, meant to say my Chaplin BDs are zoomed, so yes, my player had the same problem.
Anyway, in the Second Run booklet, the director talks about her next film she is working on. I sent her a message on facebook, commending her on this release and looking forward to her next.
Anyway, in the Second Run booklet, the director talks about her next film she is working on. I sent her a message on facebook, commending her on this release and looking forward to her next.
- Bikey
- Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:09 am
Re: 56 The Lighthouse
Thank you for doing that, manicsounds. It means a lot to the filmmakers when they get a personal note from you. We always forward to them any mail we receive about their film(s) which we have released and also the reviews.manicsounds wrote:
Anyway, in the Second Run booklet, the director talks about her next film she is working on. I sent her a message on facebook, commending her on this release and looking forward to her next.
So please, friends, feel free to email us and know that we will forward your email to them.