Larisa Shepitko: Eclipse Series 11 (Wings / The Ascent) - Criterion Collection

As a huge Criterion fan, I knew I had to bust my cherry with the Eclipse series sometime, and I couldn't have picked a better choice.
To put it blindly, this is their best looking transfer from an old Mosfilm print since they put out "Ivan's Childhood" a year or so ago (the early ones that Criterion put out, such as "Andrei Rublev" and "Cranes Are Flying", look terrible by comparison.)
As part of the dazzling 'THAW' generation of filmmakers (Tarkovsky, Parajanov, German, Klimov) that emerged post-Stalin, Larisa Shepitko is criminally unknown. All faced censorship problems, and viewed now, her films, especially "Wings", about a woman who often escapes the unhappiness of her drab life through her imaginative memory of the past, seems quite subversive. "The Ascent" is a WWII film, with Russian characters that are at times cowardly and cruel. The winter photography and windswept sound design emit a chill from every frame, and the movie is at times poetic and detached, as Elem Klimov's better known masterwork "Come and See..." (a sort of companion piece in some ways) is visceral and subjective.
But what makes these films most remarkable is Shepitko's distinctly feminine voice and fragile human sensiblity, often letting her camera focus and linger quietly on the suffered faces of her actors, conjuring strong emotional sympathy from the slightest gesture or close-up in the same way pre-feminist directors like Bergman and Mizoguchi do (a true anamoly in the restrictive climate of the USSR). Shepitko's style is more hidden, subtle, we don't get much in the way of long/slow tracking shots, experimental editing or pretentious auteurism like many of her contemporaries.
Who knows what cinematic wonders were lost with the passing of Shepitko (Klimov's version of her uncompleted film "Farewell", while beautiful in many ways, is sadly devoid of her unique sensitive and personal touch). All I know is, ever since I saw "Wings" back in college years ago and was introduced to this genius, arguably the greatest female director there ever was, I've been pining for these films on DVD, and Criterion as always, has simply outdone itself.

The stated mission of Criterion's Eclipse line was to bring us good DVD editions of important films heretofore unavailable on DVD, in high-quality transfers and low-cost packages. They've succeeded in spades with their first ten issues, but none have brought me more pleasure than their eleventh, this set of two films from Russian director Larissa Shepitko. Her tragic death in a car accident at the early age of 40 has meant that her international reputation was eclipsed by many of her film school contemporaries. But, as this package shows, her talent was second to none. Two of her four completed films are on display; WINGS, the first, provides a marvelous role for character actress Maya Bulgakova, deeply moving as a middle-aged school principal longing for the freedom of her early days as a fighter pilot. This is a fine, incisive piece of filmmaking; the other picture, THE ASCENT, is, without question, a great movie. Following the travails of two Bellarussian partisans struggling to find food for their troop, the picture's harrowing and heartfelt, and, in its passionate, mystical treatment of Christian themes, squarely in the tradition of Tolstoi and Dostoevsky. Both films share a technique that's a fascinating mix of closely observed realistic detail and sudden, breathtaking bursts of poetry. Thanks to this set, a new generation of film fans will have a chance to revel in the subtle pleasures of Shepitko's work. Highly, highly recommended.