Ivan the Terrible, Part I : Sergei Eisenstein
At first impression I had thought Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible: Part I [1944] is devoid of Russian formalism, but at the end I have found a very diverse strain of formalism not about cinematic technical elements and principles but in the compact narrative structure and measured acting expressions. However, I have missed the adventure and suspense of Eisenesque montages. The whole screenplay had been tightly structured, in my observation, by seven long sequences to briefly reflect the core part of Tsar [Czar] Ivan of united Russia from 1547 to 1565. All of the sequences conveyed structurally according to my reflective understanding a similar concept of breaking apart the personal relationships for the unifying the public associations. [I] The Coronation: Ivan’s ascending to the Moscow crown had awakened the fault lines of boyars [the aristocratic community who indirectly run the monarch, more like a shadow collective ruler] and his aunt, Efrosinia of...