The documentary Light Keeps me Company by Sven's son Carl-Gustaf Nykvist is basically a loving portrait of his father. It is full of numerous shots from a good number of the films Sven worked on as well as home footage, photos and audio splices of past interviews with him. It is also filled with numerous interviews from the likes of Bergman, Liv Ullman, Bibi Andersson, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Susan Sarandon, Stellan Skarsgård and cinematographers such as Vilmos Zsigmond and Laszlo Kovacs.

Each of the interviews reveals the greatness of the man and his importance to the art of cinematography. But other than a mention of how great his artistry was each of the interviews eventually begin to sound like testimonials ratehr than insights. Every one of the interviews only scratches the surface of Sven's art and unfortunately it sheds little light on his working techniques, specific stylistic choices or his artistic vision.

There are some tidbits and good perceptions including how Sven came to develop a style of lighting during Winter Light, Persona and Cries and Whispers. And there is also a short but interesting section on the different working techniques of Andrei Tarkovsky and Bergman. What's really missing though is a thoroughly critical approach to his work. Part of this may be because the documentary was made just as Sven had retired due to a rare form of aphasia, which has left him a little slow and without an ability to speak much. The documentary goes a lot into his personal life and the ups and downs he has dealt with over his lifetime. Overall Carl-Gustaf gives the film a resolutely melancholic, autumnal feel as if his only purpose is to honor Sven.

The best sections – as one would expect – are those that deal with the thirty year collaboration between Sven and Ingmar Bergman. Both Bibi Andersson and Liv Ulmann recall the working relationships between Bergman and Nykvist as one that was complementary toward each other's strengths. Bibi and Liv reminisce about how Everyone worked silently together and the joys, respect and love that everyone on the set had when working with two of the best cinematic artists of the 20th century.

Video:
The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85 : 1 and looks fairly good. Like a Sven Nykvist movie it is shot with a lot of natural light in this case in and around his home. There are excerpts from over twenty films that he shot. Some of them are not of the best quality because they most likely came from old prints or even videos. In some ways this is too bad since this is a documentary about a cinematographer but no doubt Carl-Gustaf either didn't have access to restored prints or some of the films he used hadn't been restored in a while.

Audio:
The sound is presented mono. This is fine since there is no need for it to be in Dolby and there are many talking head interviews. Plus, it is a relatively low key documentary that seems to have been made for TV with the volume set below stereo level.

Extras:
The documentary would make a great extra on a DVD of a Bergman film. The only extras are four trailers to other films released by First Look Pictures and a director's statement about the film. There are twelve chapters and the film is 76 minutes long.

Overall:
This is a good documentary on the great cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Any fans of his work or of Ingmar Bergman films should make it a point to check it out. However, it doesn't reveal too much from an artistic point of view. It seems to have been made strictly to honor him, which is fine since he deserves that. But the definitive documentary still remains to be made about Sven Nykvist. The video looks good the sound is fine and if you happen across it at the video store it's worth a look.