Edvard Munch (1979)

Very slow and with a stream of conscious editing style that's a bit too repetitive at times, this might be the most interesting film about an artist I've ever seen.   Directed by Peter Watkins, this biography of painter Edvard Much (celebrated Impressionist of the Scream) explores memory and the documentary-like voyeurism of film in a provocative, yet long-winded way.  Narrated by the director himself in a historian-like authority, it's as if you're watching a documentary during a time when such a film could never be made, edited as if memory, but it works somehow.  The actors even glance up and break the fourth wall, opening up their souls while at the same time condemning us for invading their space.  The average film-goer will not like this film.  It's three hour running time alone would bore most people to sleep.  Its unconventional way of telling a story about a character that mostly paints and mopes about the screen will annoy the casual viewer.  I'm on the fence though.  I was almost bored but always fascinated by it.  It's a true work of art that is easy to admire.  I only wish we lived in a world where such artistic risks were celebrated by the masses than just the intellectual folk out there.  Grade: B+