‘THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES’
by Keith Harris

SPIN
Sept 6 2012

Directed by Sergei Parajanov, this 1968 Soviet film translates the
biography of the martyred Armenian poet Sayat-Nova into a series of
vivid, often static, and (to non-Armenians) all but incomprehensible
images. Parajanov’s use of traditional Armenian religious iconography
was out of step with the U.S.S.R.’s commitment to socialist realism,
and The Color of Pomegranates was a major reason reason that Parajanov
landed in the gulag for four years. The film’s trippy effects were
a clear influence on Animal Collective’s “visual album” ODDSAC.

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From: A. Papazian