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• Tuesday, July 31, 2007 12:27 PM

  Missing the Magic

  God bless O'Hehir for a kind homage to a seemingly beloved artist that has impacted his life. I'll say this, though, that sometimes artists ... or even those whose genetics come from certain circles of "intelligensia" ... cling a bit too tightly to ideas, and their elitism, of "art."

  I noted this when I read "Although Bergman remains the subject of sporadic repertory revivals and university film courses, his movies have lost most of their once-mystical aura. After an onslaught of recent DVD releases, most of his important pictures are now readily available (exceptions include "Sawdust and Tinsel," "Dreams" and "The Magician"), but they too are just cultural commodities from the past, and must fend for themselves on the virtual or actual shelves alongside Antonioni and Godard films and "Spartacus" and "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.""

  I was one of "those" university students ... and I have watched Bergman movies (yes, movies) on "those" DVD's. Back those many years ago, I also read Bergman's biography _The Magic Latern_. It's one of the few books from college that I kept, because I knew I would want to read it again. (See, clearly I watch "movies" and I didn't have to walk 19 miles in the snow with my bedsheet to see them ...). My point is this, as best I can recall Bergan's love of his "art" ... and themes I remember from watching this "art" included a deep love of "the movie" ... images of fantasy projected on the screen and presented to an audience ... and in that event, art and reality are merged, transformed, changed. The boundaries are blurred. It's a magical and mystical experience. It's meant to be enjoyed ... gobbled down whole, shared with the mases. All movies do this. His movies do this. They are "movies" ... moving pictures projected on walls ... of art houses, cineplexes, and even caves from ancient Greece. Bergamn made magic because he understood the magic. I'll miss him.

  —totoro Read totoro's other letters
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