Sentimental Romance: A weirdly loud piano and lots of trees

Is it worth your time?

If you have twenty minutes and want to see what happens when famous Russian directors get a bit too much wine in Paris, watch this. It is a good pick for people who like looking at things that don't make sense but look nice.

If you want a story with a beginning and an end, you will probably hate it. Go watch The Gate Crasher if you want something that actually moves along.

I think I liked it, but I'm not totally sure yet. It's a lot of vibes and not much else.

It starts with a woman named Mara Griy. She is sitting at a piano in a big, empty-looking room.

She looks like she is waiting for someone who is never coming back. She looks very sad, or maybe just bored.

Then the movie just... stops being about her for a while. It becomes about nature and the way light hits things.

There are lots of shots of trees. The trees are blowing in the wind, and it looks like they are suffering.

Leaves fall down in slow motion. It is very dramatic for just some dead leaves on the ground.

I found myself wondering if the cameraman got cold while filming this. The air in the movie looks damp.

The editing is the weirdest part of the whole thing. It jumps around a lot without warning.

One second you see a face, the next you see a bunch of bubbles in a stream. It reminded me a bit of The Adventures of a Penny but with even less of a point.

Actually, it doesn't really have a point at all. It’s just Sergei Eisenstein and Grigoriy Aleksandrov playing with a camera in France.

I noticed that the water in the river looks almost like oil. The black and white film makes everything look heavy and thick.

The music is also very loud. It is a lot of singing that sounds like it’s coming from another room through a wall.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Sentimental Romance (1930) through its definitive frames.

It’s kind of spooky if you watch it in the dark. 🎹

Small things I noticed

• There is a shot of a swan that looks genuinely confused about why it is in the movie.
• The piano keys look a little bit dusty in the close-ups.
• Mara Griy has very intense eyes that stare right at you.
• The way the rain looks on the windows is actually more better than some modern CGI.

If you've seen The Scarlet Shadow, this is the total opposite of that kind of drama. There are no villains here, just weather.

Sometimes the atmosphere feels a bit thick. Like the movie is trying too hard to be poetic and deep.

But I didn't mind the length because it's only about 18 minutes. If it was two hours, I would have fallen asleep in my chair.

For 18 minutes, it's okay to just look at pretty pictures and wonder what the directors were thinking. I think they were mostly just bored of making big political movies.

The ending is very abrupt. It just sort of stops while you are still thinking about the last shot.

I guess the "romance" in the title was with the camera? Or maybe the trees? 🌳

I'm still thinking about that one shot of the clouds moving fast. It looked like the sky was boiling.

It’s not a 'must watch' for everyone, especially if you need a script. But if you're into old experimental stuff, give it a go on a rainy afternoon.

Just don't expect to understand it. It's more of a feeling than a film. 🌊

I noticed a smudge on the lens around the middle part. It made me feel like I was watching something real and messy, not perfect.

The piano playing gets really fast at one point and it doesn't match the lady's hands. That made me laugh a little bit.

It's weirdly charming even when it's being annoying. Like a cat that won't stop meowing at a wall.

If you want more action, maybe try Wildfire instead. This is strictly for the dreamers and the people who like blurry shapes.