Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25441 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-04-03
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Colour, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled
• Original language: English, Russian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 155 minutes

Customer Reviews

Colour of Pomegranates - unlike any other film.
This review only refers to Colour of Pomegranates, I have not seen A Requiem.

This is a visually stunning film, not because of the camerawork or any other filmic device, but because of the vast repertoire of costumes, sets, props and locations and the way in which they are paraded in front of the lens.
In fact it would be fair to say that if you are considering watching this film for any of the things that one expects in a `movie' such as plot, action, effects, dialogue or even characters - then you will probably be quite disappointed as these things are not part of the language that this film uses.
Instead this film uses a highly formalised sequence of symbols, stances and poses and actions that seem to flow through you almost on an intuitive level, telling a wonderfully poetic story.
A large part of the film uses the device of a succession of characters holding `attributes' such as a pomegranate or a sword in one or both hands that suddenly change to become, say, an eagle or a silk robe. They are clearly presented as symbols and surprisingly can be interpreted to make a narrative that is compelling. So if you like a film that needs to be interpreted you have just found the motherload.

Apparently Paradjanov made this film under the soviet regime in Georgia. It was made for an illiterate almost medieval audience with a highly refined storytelling tradition. The result for us in the west is a film that looks like something you might expect khublai khan's filmmaker laureate to have produced in Xanadu. An incredibly exotic taste of a different time and a different culture. You may have to learn a new way to look to get the most out of this film, or perhaps you may just have to forget some of the conventions that you have learned through watching western film.

I love this film. It is one that I have watched often, sometimes just to fill up on visual imagery that I can then filter to make other things from. If you are a fashion designer, architect, artist or anyone working in any creative media you really should have a couple of copies of this film, one for when you've worn the other out. A pure delight.

One of the strangest (and most beautiful) movies ever
The Color of Pomegranates (made in 1968, and also released under the name Sayat Nova) is not really a conventional movie. It is more like a series of tableaux "inspired" by 18th century Armenian poet Nova. It is nonetheless fascinating, and should be required viewing for anybody interested not only in Armenian culture but in cinema in general (or, if you wish, the visual arts). This movie has inspired many artists, including some music videos (admittedly not among the arts' highest form), including REM's "Losing my Religion" and Deep Forest's "Sweet Lullaby". There is a heavy homoerotic subtext to many of the tableaux, and as a matter of fact, Paradjanov would later spent several years in jail in the Soviet Union accused, among other things, of homosexuality. Though released under international pressure, it would take him another 16 years to make another movie, shortly before his untimely death in 1990.