'Fanny and Alexander'

I think I noted on another Ingmar Bergman film how varied and vast his career was as a filmmaker.

He started in the 1940s and made important films on up through the 1980s. Fanny and Alexander was released in 1982 and clearly one of his later works. But it's still just as good as anything else he ever did.

Still, it's different. He didn't cast his usual cast of recurring actors and actors. It's an especially long film (178 minutes ... although it didn't feel like it). It also features children as the main characters. Actually, this only differs from the Bergman films I've actually seen.

Like other Bergman films, he works in death and otherwordly characters like the ghosts of the father and priest. And it has one of my favorite Criterion Collection DVD covers.

Interestingly, Fanny and Alexander serves as kind of a swan song for Bergman as a legit filmmaker.

He had a fight with his cinematographer Sven Nykvist because Nykvist wanted to attend the funeral of his wife, who died suddenly during the filming.

Bergman also bickered with actors Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman, who Bergman had sought to cast in the film. But due to different circumstances, it didn't work out and things got bitter.

Bergman was kind of a nut.