Rent Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964)

3.9 of 5 from 94 ratings
1h 32min
Rent Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (aka Tini zabutykh predkiv) Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
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Synopsis:
Set within a Gutsul community in the Ukranian Carpathian mountains, this visually stunning and richly detailed tale of a young man who yearns for a lost love is a beguiling mix of folklore, sorcery and religious symbolism, which brought Paradjanov to prominence and won numerous awards.
Actors:
Ivan Mikolajchuk, Larisa Kadochnikova, Tatyana Bestayeva, , Nikolai Grinko, Leonid Yengibarov, , Aleksandr Gaj, Neonila Gnepovskaya, A. Raydanov, I. Dzyura, V. Glyanko
Directors:
Aka:
Tini zabutykh predkiv
Studio:
Artificial Eye Film Company Ltd.
Genres:
Classics, Drama, Romance
Collections:
A History of Soviet Silent Cinema, A Brief History of Film..., Top 10 Best Last Films: World Cinema, Top Films
Countries:
Russia
BBFC:
Release Date:
10/05/2010
Run Time:
92 minutes
Languages:
Ukrainian Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles:
English
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
Colour:
Colour
Bonus:
  • Documentaries 'Andrei Tarkovsky and Sergei Paradjanov', 'Islands' (directed by L. Grigoryan, 2003) and 'Songs' (directed by cinematographer A. Antipenko)
  • Stills gallery
  • Filmographies

More like Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

Reviews (3) of Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

How much folklore can you take in one night? - Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors review by PR

Spoiler Alert
23/09/2016

Everybody else raves on about it, so I must be missing something because, although I did admire some aspects of this film, I found it rather disappointing. Yes, it is unusual. Yes, it is well done. Yes, I see why many would regard it as a work or art. But at times I found it almost embarrassing. Too many peasants being folkloric in interesting outfits and singing repetitive local songs. And the story is hardly novel. But don't take my word for it, borrow it and decide for yourself, the very least you'll get are lots of scenes of anthropological interest.

4 out of 5 members found this review helpful.

From Romance to Ritual - Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors review by CH

Spoiler Alert
02/11/2020

Critics are in the habit of affecting omniscience. Better, though, to say that one is coming to something fresh (“admit” would denote needless shame: none of us can claim to have seen everything: life lays tosh across one's path as well as masterpieces). This is the first film by Sergei Parajanov that I have seen (he died, at sixty-six, three decades ago), and it is one which brings immersion from the opening moments.

We are in nineteenth-century Ukraine, in the countryside, against the Carpathian mountains, where folk song is to the fore on the soundtrack and animals stroll to and fro, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the director must be hoping they do not lurch out of shot. The thrust of the story is that Ivan Mikolaychuk is in love with the daughter of a neighbouring landowner, a man of dubious worth, and the tragedy is that she dies, her spirit suffusing everything which happens afterwards.

This, though, is not a film which one watches for that drama as such; it is suffused with the spirit of place, a way of filming which it would be lazy to call “painterly”; in traversing folklore, ritual - the very facts of life and death -. it says something, while switching between colour and black and white, about human survival. As such, in these times, it invites, even obliges one to watch it again before saying any more.

2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.

Idiosyncrasy? - Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors review by PM

Spoiler Alert
26/07/2023

The colour of pomegranates is, IMHO, a much better film, if you haven't seen it already. This film is altogether more dated and at times seems very contrived by comparison. But there are some very engaging moments and I found it interesting historically.

0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.

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