Letter From Siberia

Director: Chris Marker
Year Released: 1957
Rating: 3.0

Early Marker essay film has the auteur presenting his own unique viewpoint on one of the more uninhabitable and rough locations on Earth, Siberia. He takes liberties with much of the information and shows a genuine playfulness with his assemblage of footage (Marker even includes animated sequences involving local folklore). The voice-over is quite chatty and it doesn't always seem like one idea segues easily to the next, but that could be attributed to the filmmaker's ravenous interest in the people and culture. Might take multiple viewings to take it all in (the dry humor, the various surreal stories) - at an hour it's short but dense.