Marie Nyrerod's Bergman Island is worth a look, whether you splash out for the full Criterion reissue of The Seventh Seal or not. This doc and the included extra (Bergman 101) are included on both the DVD and Blu-ray editions of the Seal re-release.

Island is an 83-minute condensation of a nearly 3-hour made for Swedish TV doc. Snips must have come mostly from the second part, which dealt exclusively with his theatre career, because I learned more about the director and his influences here than I did in a course about him in college. The intimate detail he goes into regarding the various demons haunting him on a daily basis is absolutely fascinating. Most moving for me was a section where the master filmmaker goes into his various failed romantic relationships and his shortcomings (to say the least) when it comes to fatherhood. This is easily the most candid Bergman has been in any interview I've ever seen, and he seems quite happy to be so. His story about a conematograph that his brother received as a gift but did not appreciate is touching and childlike in the telling.

Also included on the disc is a career retrospective moving picture gallery called Bergman 101, which features a lot more info than I expected. 101 Includes stills and video clips chronologically going from his early life and influences to the end of Bergman's career. It's narrated by Peter Cowie, Criterion's go-to guy for Bergman commentary tracks among others. If you aren't so much in to The Seventh Seal but want to dig deeper into Bergman's career, this is a no-brainer. I like that Criterion made it available as a separate spine number. Even if you end up getting Seal later on, Island is the kind of title you can pass on to someone wanting to expand their knowledge of film.

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