Light Keeps Me Company

Anyone who's familiar with cinema would have heard of the great Swedish cinematographer Sven Nykvist. A humanist toward actors and a friend to crew members it's obvious from his son Carl Nykvist's documentary Light Keeps Me Company, that Sven is a likeable guy.

Like most documentaries, Carl Nykvist's film is also chalked full of interviews of prominent actors, crew members, directors as well as, family members. While the interviews with such Swedish cinema luminaries as Igmar Bergman, Liv Ullman, Bibi Anderson and Harriett Andersson as well as, Americans Woody Allen and Gena Rowlands are entertaining, the dramatic arc of the documentary that touches upon crucial moments in the photographer's life proves more poignant.

However, the story of Siddartha that is narrated throughout the documentary tends to interrupt the flow of the dominant narrative. Yes, it's true that Nykvist's life parallels his favorite novel, but a little would go a long way here.

Light Keeps Me Company is a must see for cinema enthusiasts. It might even prove educational as well as entertaining for some viewers. Learn a little cinematic history and honor a great master of light.

It makes me happy to see someone, be it the subject's own son or just anyone, film a documentary about a person who should, once he or she has left this Earth at some point, be rightfully remembered. Pioneering cinematographer Sven Nykvist is one of those people, revealed in this documentary to be revered heavily by those who have worked with him, while also having a private, but interesting, life. After a strict upbringing, and only slowly gravitating towards becoming a director of photography, he established himself doing work for various European artists until settling with his main collaborator, Ingmar Bergman, for over twenty-years. Seeing the interviews with the two of them is worth the price of the DVD in and of itself, but it's also of note that Nykvist himself is on his own quite captivating, in a quiet, assured way. His life story is put together lovingly by his son, and the interviews with those that have worked along with him, like Liv Ullmann (actually, all of Bergman's stock company rolls out), Woody Allen, Richard Attenborough, and other fellow cinematographers like Storaro and Zsigmond. Aside from the documentary details of Nykvist's life and how he would work with Bergman or Tarkovsky or Woody, what caps it all is what he contributed to the cinema history and language is given precedence. You know more often than not when you're watching a film lensed by Nykvist, even during his later years in the 90's, as he tried out other things with directors. It would be one thing to just think of him as the man behind the lens with these great directors, and particularly the two dozen or so with Bergman. But to get such a fine glimpse of the man and his art, after being sadly forced into retirement by an ailment, is remarkable.