BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Ian (Flash Review)Dr. Borg has reached that point in life, at age 78, where he reflects upon and realizes he has dug many emotional voids. During a long car trip, along with his daughter in-law, to where he is to receive an honorary degree he reminisces about his past decisions. Through flash backs and dream scenes there is much symbolism to punctuate the choices made. The emotional journey the man takes involves soul searching and may lead to potential healing of past relationships he has soured. The film has a rather expected story arc and for me lacks striking cinematography or shot framing. There are many quiet symbolic moments that would be ideal to analyze in a film class as they aren't obviously apparent. Overall, I know this is a Bergman, but it didn't mesmerize me visually aside from the clever editing and the poetic storytelling was lessened by an unsurprising story arc.

grantss Dr. Isak Borg, 78, is a renowned physician and researcher. His life's experiences have left him cold, distant and uncaring. Now he is traveling to be awarded an honorary degree by a university, a reward for his life's work. Driving with his daughter-in-law Marianne, currently estranged from his son Ewald (whose personality seems to be following that of his father's), he finds himself reminiscing about his past, especially his 20s. He has also been having strange dreams, dreams that remind him of the person he has become, and potentially what lies ahead for him.Incredibly thought-provoking and emotional movie. A metaphor for life and what you make of it. As someone who could understand how Isak could get that way, and even endorse how he feels, this was an eye- opening, and potentially life-changing, movie.While many of Bergman's movies are sombre and depressing, this, having started that way, turns it all around, channeling the negativity to find something positive. A very nostalgic and uplifting movie. Also, not that predictable in its positivity. The upliftment sneaks up on you...Wonderful film.

Antonius Block This is a quiet film, with an old man reflecting back on his life as he travels to an awards ceremony with his daughter-in-law. It may sound too sedate to hold one's interest, but it does. Through dream sequences filled with symbolism and dialog with people he meets along the way, we get a picture painted of his life, its key moments, and how he evolved over time. We see the common thread – his serious, intelligent, considerate, yet cool and judgmental personality – and how that made him a very successful doctor, but created difficulties in his personal life. We see how he lost the real love of his life when she was picking wild strawberries and his own more passionate brother pursued her, and how his subsequent marriage to another was plagued with strife and his wife's infidelity. We see how this carried down to his son, his unhappy childhood, his depression, and the difficulty he has in his own marriage. We also see the perils of old age, seeing death coming, being sentimental, and fearing becoming obsolete. We see that despite his brilliant career and the very prestigious award he's just been given, the most meaningful, happy moment in his life was simply fishing on a peaceful day with his father, a sentiment which has a 'Rosebud' feel to it.The film is not heavy or hard to watch and just enjoy Bergman's storytelling, but at the same time it does have a weightiness to it - in recalling the soul-crushing moments of sadness in life, in his sentimental reflections of his childhood, in his weighing in on two younger men's debate about God's existence ("I see His traces wherever flowers bloom"), and as he thinks about his mortality. Some comic relief is provided in his relationship with housekeeper, who brings a smile when she leaves her door ajar as she goes to bed in case he "wants anything", after having bickered with him for the entire movie (and presumably decades of their lives).I don't see the film as being optimistic or pessimistic, or as much 'warmer' than his other work, though other viewers certainly seem to and there are moments of charm, such as when the young woman of the three he gives a ride to talks to him, asks him for advice, and sweetly says she loves him as they part. Bibi Andersson played both this role and the role of the girl in the strawberry patch that he lost, which has a certain symmetry and renewal to it. However, I think the movie is realistic and balanced, with just as much bittersweetness as sweetness – even the married couple they nearly get into a car accident with make endless snide comments about one another – and its genius is in showing us truths about life that are common to us all.While the movie doesn't preach or overtly push a message, you realize just how hard it is to lead a virtuous, positive life without regrets - and reflect on your own life, where you place priorities, how you treat people, whether you appreciate the small moments, or recognize the pivotal ones – all the things that you will probably remember at the end. Great art does this, spur reflection, and that's the case with 'Wild Strawberries'. Don't believe all the hype, but at the same time, don't be intimidated either – this would be a good one to see.

Degree7 An aging professor of bacterium embarks upon a day's journey from Stockholm to Lundsk to receive an honourary award for his career work. The night before, he has a Bunuel-esque nightmare that foreshadows his own fate, seeing a watch with no hands, and his own corpse in a coffin. Cleverly, the film hints that he may be out of time before his own mortality claims him, and thus he begins a journey of self discovery where his skeletons reach out from the closet.For my first Bergman film, I was impressed by the crisp presentation and cerebral story. Its not often that filmmakers explore the aging process in sympathetic ways, and this is helped by the characterization of Dr. Isak Borg as an every man which makes him easier to relate to. He's a successful academic, although happiness in his personal life was sacrificed for concentration on his profession. And so Dr. Borg asks the eternal question of whether his existence has had any significance at all. Along the road trip with his daughter in law Marianne (who resents his emotional distancing), they pick up passengers that each represent and harken back to the failures of Borg's past. An old bickering couple that remind him of his unhappy marriage, and a love triangle between two men and a girl who symbolize a lost love from his adolescence. As the memories come flooding back, the old doctor descends into his recollections and subconscious dreams, where suppressed issues come hurtling forth from the depths. His clinical nature and lack of interest in relationships led to his first love leaving him for his brother, and later his wife having a bastard child with another man, who Borg still raised as his own. There is a haunting scene where he takes Marianne to visit his lonely, decrepit mother, and there the audience realizes along with her that this lack of zest for life seems to run through the family; Isak's son is too revealed to be a misanthropic bore, who rejects his wife Marianne's request for a child. The result of his resentfulness at having been raised as an unwanted child himself.The doctor soon learns that the only good he ever accomplished was tied to his medicinal work, but at the cost of living a life of solitude and isolation, a mindset that has afflicted his own son. There is a subtle theme from Bergman that Borg's ignorance of his family and friends has been the result of his turning away from God, as hinted by the young men they pick up (a minister and a doctor, the two sides of Isak's psyche) who fight and debate over its existence. No real answer is given in the end, symbolized by the men's stalemate in the argument. But as said later in the film: "a doctor's first duty is forgiveness." It seems the first step to even beginning to comprehend the question is by forgiving the flaws of those around you and the ones within. And although Borg fears he may be too late to reconcile the animosity between him and his family, the film makes an inspiring statement by the end that it's never never too late to redeem oneself and begin enjoying life. The story is resolved, and the generational cycle of resentment broken, with the rapprochement between two lovers and the potential birth of new life.Alas, there are flaws in Bergman's work that cannot be forgiven, and he was no God. The first major flashback acts as a crux of the plot, but appears contrived due to Isak being present for an event that was impossible for him to have known. Nor do we ever get to really see this "cold distance" that Isak possessed as a man; only its effects. The director is to be commended for not spoon feeding the audience the philosophical aspects (this is an art film from Sweden after all), but sometimes his high brow obscurity gets in the way of my enjoyment of the story. It's all a little too esoteric for me. While the message may seem a little trite and simplistic at times, this is still a heartwarming and life-affirming fable from a legendary auteur. "Wild Strawberries" has a comforting aura, although like Doctor Isak Borg himself, the film can be rather too pedantic for its own good.