Cathex If you are into aesthetic metaphor in the moving image than this film is well worth viewing. The director constructs a kind of guided meditation through the use of poetic narration and symbolic imagery.The film is narrated by a man of whom it would appear has suffered some kind of crises and has thus gone to live a spiritual life among nature. The metaphor and beautiful symbolism both in word and image succeed however in making this an archetypal journey of spiritual growth.The director clearly has a keen and exquisite sense of aesthetic beauty, and the film is edited very well, the combination of which I felt thoroughly worked to accomplish not only a beautiful but a relevant and meaningful experience for the viewer.There were however a few moments where I felt certain elements had been over-stressed and sometimes this felt a little laboured. For example there is a slight over-reliance on dancing, as if the director was afraid to let the beauty of stillness occupy the screen. This sometimes results in an unnecessarily 'noisy' image. At times also the dancing appeared a little ambiguous and confused, and this I feel was a mistake caused by what seems like a loss of focus towards the end.That said however, the film is overall extremely good and I found it very moving at times. It is visual poetry and truly a work of art.

andrei-kivu First let's state clearly that this is not a movie, neither a documentary. It's photography barely moving. I cannot give a not passing grade to this movie because it IS beautiful. However, it greatly lacks is pace and variation and many other aspects. The opening scene will leave you breathless with your eyes wide open, unfortunately it doesn’t change much throughout the movie. The narrator states emphatically at the beginning of the movie "if you follow me" meaning if you watch this movie "your seconds will become hours, your hours will become days". Well, I can't say he didn't speak the truth: the hour I spent watching this movie did feel a little like a day. The chocolaty sepia is at times beautiful, at times boring. I couldn't help thinking all throughout the movie how they tortured the poor beasts to get the admittedly beautiful imagery. To make the redundancy complete, some scenes are played more than once. The narrated text is some seemingly deeply meaningful mambo-jambo, spliced with corniness and unbearable pretentiousness. A sample of this corniness would be when the narrator says something like "at the beginning of time the sky was full of flying elephants and now they sleep in the sky with one eyed open to keep watch over us and the stars we see are their eyes" - come on! If you saw the episode in Southpark where some kids make a show called "Close-Up Animals with a Wide Angle Lens Wearing Hats", then this movie could easily be called "sepia images in slow motion of people barely clothed dancing around with elephants and other wild beasts, on Buddha-bar-like music".

Brienne Walsh I first saw this film in New York, at the Nomadic Museum. I remember walking down the long hallway of the museum, curious to see what was at the end, where a group of people had gathered. Even though the movie lasted for almost 60 minutes, I stood in a crowd two times to watch it. I didn't even notice that I had been standing for so long! This is a film about love, about passion, and about kindness. Every time I watch it, I think of all of the people and places that I have felt a fondness for in my life. I think of my first love, my first kiss. I remember all of the most precious moments in my life.I highly recommend this movie to everyone. I promise that you will be crying within five minutes of seeing the film.

ed2oh9 I went to the opening of the Ashes & Snow exhibit when it arrived in Santa Monica, Ca. As the Nomadic Museum was being assembled (basically large cargo containers stacked upon one another), my friends and I thought it was going to be some sort of Cirgue De Soleil spin off, since that's what had been set up in the same spot the years before. We couldn't have been more wrong.Just before the show opened, someone told me about the website (ashesandsnow.com). I was amazed by what I saw and couldn't wait for the show's opening. When the day finally came, I was mesmerized by each image as it hung in the immense gallery, which I think was designed to give you the sense of walking among elephants. Some of the images are so bold though, with the interaction between man and animal, that you start to believe that they were digitally manipulated. Then I walked into the center section of the gallery and saw the film. It was just as awe inspiring as the images and left no doubt that each image was captured as it the scenes were choreographed.Being a photographer myself, I can say that the exposures, the compositions, the cinematography, the moods created, the toning, etc, were all absolutely perfect. I've been shooting for years and know how difficult it is to get EVERYTHING to work in coordination to create a memorable image. It's hard enough to get it all to work together in a controlled environment, but Gregory Colbert shot the majority of the images with animals. On top of that, he shot underwater, with whales, elephants and manatees, creating some of the most unique images I've ever seen.Beyond the technical aspect of the film though is the incredible harmony that you see between man and animal. For one reader to suggest that the animals were "in distress" is absolutely ludicrous. You don't see that here. You also don't see animals that resemble circus creatures that have been beaten into submission. Instead, what you see is humans that live in peace with the animals from their native land. You see an incredible respect for the animals and a gentleness that put the animals at ease. It's a thing of beauty.Deeper still is the message behind the film and the images. Both Laurence Fishburne and Ken Wantanabbe have the perfect voice to narrate Colbert's story of a man who left all that he knew, in order to find himself in distant lands. The revelations that he discovers along the way are what we get to see in the images that were produced. Watch the film, listen to the words, and then watch the film again, and again, and again. In it, you'll see a man's dreams, visions, heart break and redemption. You'll see the journey he took and the worlds that he saw, not only on the outside, but inwardly as well. You'll hear his message of love and see that ultimately, the film is not about animals at all...but instead about us.It is a masterpiece, and it is an experience.