Port of Call (Hamnstad). Ingmar Bergman. 1948. ⭐⭐⭐⭐★★.
Oh, it’s Bergman’s 100th birthday this year, so there’s supposed to be a bunch of retrospectives, re-releases and documentaries this year. I had no idea when I embarked upon my Bergmania…
Anyway, this is a very strangely edited film. It’s like if the editor is off by a few frames every cut. Things judder and shiver.
Bergman says in interviews about this film that he was basically riffing on Rossellini and Italian neo-realism in this film, and it’s quite different from his earlier movies. The people do seem more realistic than his earlier attempts, and I don’t think it features any of the actors that he usually uses?
The evil mother and the evil social worker are pretty tiresome cliches. There are some good scenes in here, but also some pretty bad ones (like the one where Our Hero gets drunk).
This post is part of the 87 Bergman Things series.