Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors was a nice film that made for a really unique viewing experience. It tells the life story of a boy named Ivan as he grows up and enters two defining romantic relationships, the second of which brings about his untimely demise. Shadows caught my attention for its engaging camera work within the first half of the film, where the camera's movement was incredibly intense and really brought the film to life. While in the second half of the film the camera is far more static, early on the camera did a few really distinctive things. First, it was continually unsteady, when it wasn't whipping us rapidly around the scene; I found that this caused an exhilarating disorienting effect. Also, while Ivan was still a child the camera would often film from a child's perspective, at knee level, looking up to adults that were having a discussion, which I found to be interesting. The landscape shots that were captured were extremely beautiful and later in the film, the camera did have some of the "running" motion that was seen in The Cranes Are Flying, though this time it was not from the perspective of any character. In another similarity to Cranes, as well as Ivan's Childhood, there was a major tree motif within the film. Shadows reminded me of a silent film at times with the lack of dialogue and the style of acting that was present, though this is not a knock in anyway, in fact I found it to be quite beautiful. The use of colors to express emotional states is also added to the quality of the film, as did the richness of the color when it was present. Shadows brought an intense nostalgic quality to the screen and is defined by how great of a visual experience it is.
Review of Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
