Review of The Seventh Seal (1957) by Dawdlingpoet — 20 Nov 2021

This is certainly a quirky and surreal watch - a surprisingly watchable one. The plot doesn't exactly entirely make sense but it also doesn't entirely matter. I'd say there's an element of farce about it and it even features some (brief) toilet humour/references, which is surprisingly for a film of its age (it was released in the late 1950s).

Its different to the usual black and white films I see or have seen but I thought it was surprisingly amusing and surreal, so its certainly an entertaining watch, even though it covers quite serious thematic material, mainly mortality. As the film went on, I felt more engrossed in the story and the characters, which has to be a good sign, hence my rating. The slow drum beats often present in the background help to add to the tension as well.

I'd recommend this particularly to fans of quirky, classic (perhaps arthouse type) films I suppose - after all, who doesn't want to see a film with scenes featuring death playing chess? (I wonder if the Bill & Ted Bogus Journey film with a similar scene was taking the pee out of that? I bet you didn't expect to read 'Bill & Ted' in a review of a film such as this but, well, there you go!).