In my top 10 list

To me films like this fulfill the promise of cinema as an art. Once we see them we are changed. And we are not diminished as is the case with a lot of the trash that's produced.

Instead, we are actually more after we see them.

I saw this film on public television after an evening of shows commemorating the Armenian holocaust. The film was subtitled and I was immediately intrigued by the rich images and unfamiliar settings. All I could make out about the film is that is was loosely about the life of a poet.

I grew up in Southern California knowing some Armenians and there was actually a restaurant in my neighborhood called the Sayat Nova. So given the evening's programming on that tv channel it was pretty obvious that this film was about Sayat Nova.

Of course the film isn't so much about the poet and his life as it is about the imagination of the director and his intoxication with the possibilities of film. He apparently had limited opportunities to express himself and I can imagine him not believing that he was able to make this film.

I've rambled enough. When I think about the best film, this one is never far from my mind. I hold up films like this one and those of Jodorowsky, Fellini, Bunuel and a few others as the best the medium has to offer.