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Reviews
Progulka (2003)
The Stroll 2003
The 2003 Russian film entitled "The Stroll," directed by Aleksei Uchitel completely caters to the appetite of your typical western viewer. The film generally centers around two young men and a woman as they take a stroll through St. Petersburg. The beginning of the film is somewhat confusing as we hear a conversation between a male and our female protagonist, but it isn't until the end of the film that this conversation and the events immediately following this scene makes absolute sense. Throughout the majority of the film everything seems to be in a fast pace: from the quick encounter of Alyosha and Olya, to him immediately professing his love for her within a few minutes of just meeting. Oddly enough the scene were Olya and Alyosha are observing people and judging their personalities based on their appearances you can't help but sense the irony whenever Olya begins describing Alyosha's bad luck with women. Her chatter with the two men that sometimes seems like mindless rambles as well as her actions at one point begin to contradict itself. Take for example the scene where she tells Alyosha that she's unable to sit as she fell off a horse and injured her spinal column, which she forget all about at one point in the film. Or when she said she doesn't drink, but later says she wants a beer after being robbed. This leads the audience to essentially question her true intentions in bewitching the two male best- friends. The camera work throughout the majority of the film is real time in that a vast amount of scenes are presented in an unbroken sequence. Take for instance the scene where Alyosha is insisted in buying tickets for Moscow. This real time footage gives a depiction of St. Petersburg that is quite different to early films are it portrays the city as this beautiful busting city. Shots are often out of focus as the camera work is hand held which can sometimes prove to be too chaotic for a viewer who isn't accustom to such unconventional technique. Take for example the scene where people are cheering due to the soccer match being held. It isn't until the conclusion of the film that the camera work switches to a more conventional method, and the cool coloring of the scenes are entirely different to the scenes earlier in the film Perhaps signaling the film drawing to an end where everything is revealed. The song in the beginning credits also seems to connect the ending showing this sort of "dead end". In how this casual stroll that seemed to have a happy ending turned into something quite dark and depressing.
Pro urodov i lyudey (1998)
Of freaks and men
Of Freaks and Men directed by Alexei Balabanov is a Russian 1998 film. The film in the beginning and near the end is initially black and white, but the majority of it is entirely sepia tone. It utilizes text to provide the audience background information that isn't explicitly shown. The film is so original and playful but border line overly crude which makes the film all the more disturbing. The film is set during the start of the 20th century in St. Petersburg centered around a widowed engineer named Radlov who lives with his daughter Liza and maid Grunia whose brother happens to be a pornographer name Johan. The blind woman Ekaterina and her adopted Siamese twins Kolya and Tolya also play a major role in the film, as their maid is a customer of Johan's pornography. Of Freaks and Men basically reveals that everyone is a "freak" not a single character is what you would call "innocent." The maid of the Siamese twins showing the children the pornography and have one of them touch her breast. The widowers daughter who isn't as innocently as he believes, he literally gets a heart attack when discovering the truth. The Siamese twins don't fall behind with one of them becoming an alcoholic and the other exposing his sexual desires to Liza. The connection between these two families is Johan being that the families are destroyed with his evil. You could possibly argue that the characters in this film were originally weak having already bizarre passions, which I would absolutely agree with.
Idi i smotri (1985)
Come and See
The 1985 Soviet war film entitled "Come and See," directed by Elem Klimov revolving around the Nazi German occupation of the Byelorussian SSR. As watching this film Andrei Tarkovsky's "Ivan's Childhood" came to mind. Although the two are quite similar as both depict a child in war they couldn't be far different in delivery. Klimov's film doesn't center around the psychologically events war has on children as much as Ivan's Childhood does. We have far more aspects of war that are being shown such as the separation of families, the portrayal of manslaughter, we even see the German's celebrating after essentially burning an entire village. Klimov takes an entirely new portrayal of soviet war films that is both haunting and shocking. Klimov's usage of cinematic tools that makes viewers feel like they themselves are experiencing the same volatile environment that Florya is confronted with which makes this film all the more difficult to watch. There is one particular scene that is almost a mirror image of a scene in Ivan's Childhood where Florya is looking over a well while searching for his family just as what Ivan does. The image of Florya that is reflected in this scene doesn't appear as that of a child in fact this scene is most likely the beginning of when we begin to see Florya start to age rapidly as hinted with the absence of hair that is shown in his reflection. You see Florya as someone who is actively trying to avoid the horrible truth; we see this clearly when Florya is always covering his ears. The contrast in characters between Glasha who sees death everywhere and Florya who avoids this is also portrayed in the scene were Florya refuses to believe that his family was killed and rushes to a nearby island in search for them not taking notice of the mass number of dead bodies behind his house. The scene were the bog that Glasha and Florya are trying to cross is noticeable dense but the drastic change in consistency that happens a few minutes later most likely serves as Florya's difficulty in accepting the reality-coming to terms that his family was killed. The conclusion of the film where Florya comes upon the portrait of Hitler is an impactful moment where Florya seeks to undo all the terrific horror events that all of Europe has suffered at the hands of Hitler. Every shot attempts to erase Hitler's existence.
Beloe solntse pustyni (1970)
The White Sun
The 1970 Soviet film entitled "White Sun of the Desert," directed by Vladimir Moty is a classic "Ostern" blend of action and comedy. This Soviet Western film is set during the Soviet civil war in one of the Soviet Asiatic states, and centers around a lonely Red Russian soldier Fedor Sukhov who keeps finding himself in bizarre situations along his journey to get home. The biggest of situation he finds himself in is fighting a gang of local bandits who are trying to restore feudal order to Soviet Asia. This film introduces us to comedy in an untraditional manner. Take for instance the event where Fedor is told without his approval to escort the khan's harem, named Adullah, to a safe place across the desert. Also the moment when the veiled women proclaim him their new husband, in which Sukhov insist that a man should only have one woman. Vladimir utilizes action and dynamic fight sequences add humor this is prominent near the end of the film. For example when a man is seen flying out the window of a house or when several men are thrown out the boat with a kick. One theme that the film draws upon is exile this is seen with our hero who has constantly tried to get home but is somewhat forced to live a life in the desert. The hero also brings a hint of romanticism from the location where these heroic acts are taking place. Vladimir uses dream sequences to show Sukhovs longing to reunite with his bride and to also show he sees his bride through the khan's harem.
Komissar (1967)
Commissar 1967
Commissar directed by Aleksandr Askoldov is a 1967 Soviet film based on one of Vasily Grossman's short stories. The story is set during the Russian Civil War and centers around a female commissar of the Red Army cavalry, Vavilova, who is introduced to the audience as a brutal soldier shooting a deserter with zero remorse. The audience clearly sees her inhumane nature when she finds herself pregnant and mentions how she would have gotten rid of "it" if only she had known earlier. Finding herself pregnant and due to deliver her baby any day she is forced to stay with a not so well off Jewish family who is at the beginning is reluctant to accept her staying with them. Through her time with this family her character makes a drastic change as she now embraces motherhood, and life as a woman. One of the many themes in this film is the effect war has had on adults and children alike. The husband, who is exhausted from constantly working while earning very little, but has to feed seven children. The wife, who has to do all the house chores. In one scene the children aggressively bully and begin to wage a mock pogrom on their older sister by tying her to a swing and swaying her back and forth. The action could have only been possible by observing the actions of soldiers. Although the family is caught in all this chaos Askoldov manages to capture the warm nature of family life through the slow panning of the children and their parents sleeping as well as them dancing together. Askoldov finds ways to dramatize particular scenes; one noticeable moment is the scene of Vavilova struggling during her delivery, which is paralleled with a scene of a group of soldiers struggling to push a wagon. Also the scene where the soldiers are drinking water after succeeding to push the wagon and the scene where Vavilova drinks water when she succeeds in giving birth. This film did not adhere to the honorable vision of Soviet life in war along with the aftermath that the party officials desired the world to see. The audience is made aware of the Soviet Unions role in the holocaust, which is captured in a striking dream sequence near the end of the film where the Jewish family is happily dancing and the moment is cut short as we see the family wearing stars walking with other Jews to what seems to be a concentration camp.
Ballada o soldate (1959)
Ballad of a Soldier
The 1959 Soviet film entitled "Ballad of a Soldier," directed by Grigori Chukhrai is set during World War ll. The film revolves around a young enthusiastic 19 year old soldier named Alyosha who receives a medal for his heroic act in the front when he single handedly destroys two German tanks. Instead of this he appeals to be granted leave for a few days to visit his mother. Throughout his journey home he comes to fully realize the turmoil and affect of war on humans. One of the many themes this film portrays is "heroism." At the beginning we immediately realize that Alyosha isn't particularly this traditional amazing hero as we see him fleeing from the German tanks, but his instincts to survive has him become an accidental hero. This isn't writing off his title of a hero in any way. The presentation of a heroic act between the scene of him staying back to deliver the message that a group of tanks were heading their way, to the scene of him saving countless people from the train wreckage that happens later in the film is comparatively different in the portrayal of a hero. The treatment in soldiers from the beginning of the filming towards the end is significantly different as at the beginning many citizens were willing to help Alyosha get home, but near the end it was difficult to have someone take him merely 5 miles to see his mother. He was treated as a "good for nothing" or obstacle especially in the scene where he had saved several people from the train wreck. Chukhrai usage of angles is rather unique, for example the deep focus shot that is slowly turned upside down when Alyosha is running away from the German tanks gives a sense of disorientation and loss that the battlefield is composed up. Chukhrai especially like to elongate characters and objects perhaps to highlight the importance these elements have on the film. Although the film does respect authority figures and idealizes soviet workers it does devote a lot of its attention on the humanistic picture that is powerful as it is devastating. For example the scene were Alyosha meets a veteran who lost his leg and is hesitant to return to his wife. It was through Alyoshas constant optimistic view on the situation that made this reunion possible.
Yunost Maksima (1935)
the youth of maxim
The film entitled "Youth of Maxim" (1935) is a Soviet film directed by Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg. The plot revolves around a revolutionary underground group that spreads leaflets of mostly anti-tsarist slogans. Among one of the members is Maxim, who is portrayed as an ideal communist hero. Maxim's character matures as the story unravels as he begins to be exposed to the reality of the workers conditions. The audience clearly see's the progress of Maxim, who was at the beginning seen as an innocent ignorant peasant to his gaining of social consciousness of the reality before him. This can be seen whenever he was brought it to meet his superior who asked him if it would be okay to sell out his comrades. Also the scene where he asked the same person to help his comrade who had gotten injured working the machines, but was immediately denied help and even told it was his friends fault for coming to work drunk. Considering this is a relatively dark film the directors take it upon themselves to play with the lighting in certain scenes. The boss of the factory is particularly highlighted almost to the point where he is glowing. His appearance most likely serves as this contrast between the workers. He is seen as this clean, bright, higher status individual while the workers have this dirty, unkept, lower class appearance. The same scene I mentioned early where Maxim was asking his boss for help but got rejected there was a moment where dirt was actually thrown unto him giving this direct connotation. Other individuals of higher rank are also highlighted such as the soldiers.
Aelita (1924)
a sci-fi
The film entitled "Aelita," which is produced by Yakov Protazanov is significant due to it being the first ever fantasy genre film in Soviet cinema. The story follows a small group of people including a Engineer who becomes obsessed with deciphering a cryptic radio message and to finding a way to get to Mars. The majority of the film is set in Moscow although some scenes do take place in Mars, particularly the event where the protagonists starts a proletarian revolution. This scene in a way contradicts the whole entity of the film being science fiction as it puts its own spin on the revolutionary war. Protazanov seems to play quite a bit with lighting throughout the entire film especially in highlighting the protagonists in various scenes. For example when scenes of Aelita took place her entire body would be white almost to the degree where she would appear to be glowing. Protazanov most likely does this to give a sense of this "fantasy," this image of a "godly" queen. Shadows are often utilize as well take for example the scene were Los finally arrives back to Moscow after 6 months of working away where he witnesses two shadows of whom he believes is his wife kissing Erlich. Protazanov also plays with the shape of the overall clips to give an illusion of Aelita looking through a telescope. You can see this quite clearly in the scene of Los and his crew landing on Mars. Time holds a significant role throughout the entire film as the film is intentionally sped up. What seems to be 2 months in one moment suddenly becomes 6 months. When Los is at the train station after killing his wife, and is there once again near the end of the film when he finally escapes this fantasy life he had been obsessing about. Almost as if this moment had been frozen while he was dreaming. When the ruler of the futuristic totalitarian state would put the oppressed working class into a cold storage when he felt that they were no longer needed. This was a moment where time literally freezes for them as they are being put to storage.
Konets Sankt-Peterburga (1927)
The end of St. Petersburg
The film entitled "The end of St. Petersburg," directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin is a narrative, revolved around a naïve young country boy who travels to St. Petersburg along with his mother in search of work. He then betrays his friend, whom he is staying with, by informing the factory's manager of him being the perpetrator behind the strike leading to his arrest. He then realizes the consequences of his mistake and comes to understand the economic forces his countrymen are fighting for and results in attacking his employer. He then goes to jail and later is forced to join the army. Pudovkin uses parallelism quite a bit to express certain situations take for example the shot of Russian soldiers running over the top of the trenches towards their death, which immediately cuts to a shot of a mass amount of bourgeoisie men running up the stairs to the stock exchange facility. This showing completely different environments, as well as different actions that are taking place at the same moment in time. We are shown the brutal reality of the capitalist system that is making a profit in the murder of their own people. Pudovkin shows individuals who hold power as larger figures in comparison to the lower class citizens. For instance near the beginning of the film the naïve country boy and his mother are shown to us shrunken to the size of ants in comparison to the city's gigantic monuments. There was a scene when they were asking directions from a local officer, where the officer was also a significant amount taller than them. Pudovkin again shows us this near the conclusion of the film but where the young country boy is the equal size of the city. The instrumental throughout the film also serves to dramatized actions take for example the scene were a mother slams her daughter from reaching to grab a potato, or when an object breaks. Pudovkin also uses text to caption off certain scenes beautifully.
Padenie dinastii Romanovykh (1927)
The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty
The fall of the Romanov Dynasty (1927), directed by Esfir Shub, is a documentary narrative constructed entirely of newsreel footage before the revolution. Her use of captions makes the film a lot easier for the audience to fully grasp the various scenes, which are presented to us in a sort of chronological order. At the beginning she provides us with a fairly obvious juxtaposition of the lives of the Imperial family and the poor working class. Depicting the gap between the lower class and the upper class, which only seems to be widening. A scene that seemed to especially show this was when nobles were having a tea party and once they were finished the workers would come in and clean up. There's a hint of bitter satire that can be felt throughout the entire film as an impending revolution is approaching, which seems to be unavoidable. This war that didn't seem to be supported by the general public and only benefited the Imperial family and his loyal subjects, which consisted of senators, civil servants, and the head of press. Had loss all support after the mass destruction leading to a revolt all because of the neglect from the Tsar and his ministers.
Otets Sergiy (1918)
A Tolstoy Story
This Tolstoy story follows Prince Kossotski and his journey of joining the army and falling in love with Countess Korotbova who is the emperors mistress. In his discovering of this it shocks him to such an extent that he decides to enter the monastery. His entering the monastery shows his despised of everything that seemed important to others. Especially towards his family, as it was his father's dying wish to pursue a career in the army. It's a bit ironic how this man who was characterized from the gecko as having a violent temperament, which can clearly been seen when he is arguing about the pork chops being inedible to his superior. Can suddenly decide to resign and become a monk. The portraying of priesthood in this film is entirely controversial. After watching this film one can clearly tell why it wasn't shown to the public until May 1918 even though production was completed months before the October Revolution. Tolstoy's novel is challenging what the church stands for and proclaiming that even something that is seen as the most brilliant position of high society is influenced by corruption and human weakness. Mosjoukine does a terrific job in portraying Father Sergius as a distraught persona caught in between duty and passion. Sergius is constantly battling temptation, his desire to return to the army and his desire of wanting to be with a woman. In order to avoid temptations he becomes a hermit in a desert, but is still constantly struggling and in the end is seduced. A frank denunciation of the official church.