The Color of Pomegranates (1969)

When director Sergei Paradjanov asserts that directors are born and not made (in a documentary that appears on the DVD version of this, his acknowledged masterwork), he is clearly attempting to elevate filmmaking to the level of artistry that is enjoyed by literature -- literature such as that created by the poet Sayat Nova. In this film, Paradjanov presents Nova's life in a series of tableaux that are ravishing to look at and almost impossible to comprehend without at least a basic knowledge of the poet's work and the culture from which it sprang. Paradjanov is uninterested in conventional narrative, choosing to express the life of an artist as a poetic cycle. This can be seen as contempt for or, at best, indifference to an audience; the same might be said, for example, of Finnegan's Wake or Le Sacre du Printemps, works whose artistic reputations far exceed their accessibility. For the uninitiated who see a glass half full of water, The Color of Pomegranates may be taken as an introduction to the life and times of Sayat Nova; for those who see the glass as half empty, the film will likely come off as a visual experience devoid of interest beyond its imagery. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide