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5.1/10
Archivist John
Senior Editor
A definitive 5.1/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. A Cycle of Songs remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Okay, so "A Cycle of Songs" isn't for everyone. Let's get that straight right away. If you're looking for big explosions or fast-paced thrillers, you'll probably hate it. But if you're like me, someone who enjoys a quiet, almost meditative film about a person wrestling with their own life, then yeah, this one is absolutely worth watching today. It’s a slow burn, but it sticks with you.
The movie follows Elias, an older musician. He’s trying to write new stuff, but you can feel him just stuck, you know? Like, the film just opens with him staring out a window. For a good 30 seconds, maybe more. Just him, a dusty pane, and a street that looks like it's seen better days. It's not a flashy shot, but it tells you everything about where he's at.
There's this one scene where he’s trying to strum a new melody on his old acoustic guitar. The strings sound a little flat. He plays a few notes, stops, tries again, just a bit off. It’s such a small, human moment. You can almost hear the rust of his own creativity. The way the camera just sits there, watching his fingers fumble a bit, is powerful.
The flashbacks are interesting. They're not always clear, which I actually appreciated. Like, there's this quick shot of a younger woman laughing, then it cuts back to Elias just looking tired. No big explanation. It feels like how *real* memories work, not some perfectly recalled scene from a drama. You get these flashes of a younger Elias, full of fire, playing to a small but engaged crowd. Then boom, back to his quiet, empty living room.
Sometimes, the quiet in this movie is almost too much. There's a part where he goes to a coffee shop, and he just sits there, listening to the clatter around him, but he’s utterly alone in his own head. The sound design really emphasizes that. The clinking cups, the low murmur of conversations – it all just washes over him. I actually found myself checking my own phone, which is maybe a bad sign, or maybe it just pulled me into his own distracted state. Hard to tell.
I remember this very specific shot of his hands. Wrinkled, a bit shaky, holding a worn coffee mug. It’s not something you’d usually notice, but it just *felt* so real. Those hands have played a lot of songs, seen a lot of life. ☕️ And the mug itself, a chipped thing, probably from a forgotten tour stop years ago.
There's a conversation with his daughter, Lily, who tries to encourage him. She’s bright, maybe a bit too optimistic for his mood. She says something about "finding his spark again," and Elias just gives this small, sad smile that barely reaches his eyes. It’s a moment that could've been really heavy-handed, but it’s played so subtly. Lily’s efforts, bless her heart, feel a little misplaced, like she’s talking to a wall sometimes. But her persistence is still kind of touching.
The pacing, gosh. It’s *slow*. Like, seriously slow. You could probably make a sandwich during some of the longer shots. But it's not boring, not exactly. It makes you lean in, makes you pay attention to the little things. It forces you to sit with the feeling. It makes you think about your own quiet moments, maybe.
I kept thinking about The Desert Man while watching this, not because they're similar in plot, but in how they both use vast empty spaces – in The Desert Man it’s physical desert, here it’s more like the empty spaces *inside* Elias. Both films know how to use silence. It’s a deliberate choice, letting the silence breathe and carry weight.
One odd thing: there’s a scene where Elias tries to fix a leaky faucet, and it just… doesn’t work. He tries for a good minute, gets frustrated, then just gives up and puts a bucket under it. It’s such a tiny, irrelevant detail to the main story, but it makes him feel so much more *real*. Like, yeah, of course his plumbing would be giving him trouble too.
The film doesn't try to give you all the answers. You never fully understand why Elias is so stuck, or what exactly happened in his past. Just snippets. Like a song where you only catch a few lines of the lyrics, but you get the general mood. It’s less about a grand narrative and more about the texture of a life.
There's this one scene near the end, where he finally plays a new, complete melody. It’s simple, just a few chords. But the way the light catches his face, it’s like a tiny flicker of something. Not happiness, exactly. More like relief. A small win. And the song itself, when it finally comes together, is just a quiet, almost mournful tune. It feels earned, somehow.
The ending is… well, it just sort of *ends*. No grand conclusion. You don’t see him become a superstar again. You just see him in that moment. It’s a choice that might frustrate some viewers, but for me, it felt right. Life doesn’t always wrap up neatly, does it? It’s more like a cycle, isn't it? 🔄
IMDb 6.8
1916
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