Russian Resurrection Film Festival 2008
The 5th annual Russian Resurrection Film Festival 2008 this year presents audiences with 11 new feature films, as well as two retrospective programs: one presenting many films from one of the most commercially successful directors, Karen Shakhnazarov; and the other showcasing two examples of Russian filmmakers making science fiction/fantasy genre films. In Sydney only there will be a rare screening of the 1929 silent Russian classic The New Babylon directed by Kozintsev & Trauberg, accompanied by the SBS Youth Orchestra playing a score composed for the film by Shostakovich.
The festival plays: in Sydney at the Palace Chauvel Cinema (Oct 31 – Nov 10); in Melbourne at the Palace Como Cinema (Oct 29 – Nov 5); in Brisbane at the Palace Centro Cinemas (Nov 6 – 12); in Canberra at the Greater Union Manuka Cinema (Oct 30 – Nov 4); in Adelaide at the Palace Nova Eastend Cinema (Nov 14 –19); and in Perth at the Cinema Paradiso (Nov 13 – 19).
Visit: http://www.russianresurrection.com/
Last updated 16 November 2008
12
The original version of 12 Angry Men was written for the stage, which was then turned into a televised play and eventually filmed in 1957 by Sidney Lumet starring Henry Fonda. Reginald Rose’s play was a claustrophobic affair about the way a jury could be swayed by one person, and the stereotypes and issues that the jurors brought to the discussion, about the guilt or otherwise of a Latino teenager accused of murder. Brilliant writer/director Nikita Mikhalkov, who won a best foreign language Oscar for his superb film Burnt by the Sun (1994), received another foreign language Oscar nomination this year for this adaptation of the original film, but completely rewritten as a contemporary Russian tale set amidst the Chechnyan conflict. A teenage Chechnyan youth is brought to trial for the murder of his stepfather, and this becomes the centre-piece for the 12 man jury’s discussion of his guilt or innocence. Mikhalkov, who also plays one of the jurors, relocates the original story to a high school gymnasium in the Chechen province, and loads each of the jury characters with a range of social/cultural/political backgrounds to exemplify the current turmoil in the new Russia. There isn’t a wasted moment in this 160 minute film that gives each juror the chance to strut his stuff, but more importantly to reveal the layers that exist in contemporary Russia now devoid of its Soviet Union status. A superb intense, compelling film, redolent with subtext and replete with symbolism as demonstrated by the constantly fluttering small bird that flies across the gym, trapped, as the jurors are trapped, and as the accused teenager is trapped. Mikhalkov clearly has some important messages to communicate with both a Russian and international audience, and he does it in spades. A major highlight of this festival, and not to be missed. (Peter Krausz)
CAPTIVE
Despite its relatively short running time (77 minutes), this is a tense, emotionally charged drama about a couple of Russian soldiers who capture a Chechnyan teenager, in order to help them traverse the hostile war-ravaged landscape during the Chechen battles with Russia. Alexei Uchitel (The Stroll, Dreaming of Space), does an excellent job revealing a great deal about the origins of the hostilities and the dehumanizing impact of the changes happening to Russia. The film’s conclusion may be expected to some extent but is no less disturbing. Highly recommended. (Peter Krausz)
VICE
The underworld drug culture in contemporary Russia is harrowingly revealed in this grim, but compelling, film by noted director Valery Todorovsky (My Stepbrother Frankenstein, The Lover). A young musician and DJ is inveigled into the drug culture when his two friends become involved with a gang of nasty drug-peddlers, when they accidentally interfere in a drug deal. All goes downhill from that point as the musician and his girl-friend become enmeshed in payback, violence and corrupt police, and especially the manipulation of an evil drug-lord in the area. Not unlike Soderbergh’s Traffic, the film achieves a trajectory that leads to a shattering climax involving a police officer determined to get the drug-lord through the assistance of the naïve musician. The film plays with the notions of loss of innocence, the corruption in the new Russia, and the Western influence on contemporary Russian society. At times difficult to watch, this is nonetheless another highlight of this festival, highly recommended. (Peter Krausz)
THE VANISHED EMPIRE
Karen Shakhnazarov’s latest film, and the subject of the key retrospective of this festival, is also the opening night film of the festival. Deceptively light-hearted (at first), the film explores the lives of a group of young people living a comfortable life in 1973/4 Russia when the Soviet Union seemed to be functioning well. Their romantic entanglements, visits to nightclubs with decadent American songs, their dabbling with marijuana and Western black market goods such as new Rolling Stones records, and the security of family and communism, are all challenged as they discover that socially and politically, the Soviet Union is heading for a fall. Alexander Lyapin plays the 20 year old of a family comprising his mother, grandfather and younger brother, whose pleasant life is slowly starting to crumble. His girl-friend, who he cheats on, reveals she is pregnant, while his grandfather reminisces about the old Russia and the ethnic countryside, while his mother is hospitalized and he becomes the care-giver of his younger brother. The symbolism used by Shakhnazarov, harking to a rocky plain of earth and sky, while valuing the eastern aspects of Russian life, and also espousing sympathy for this young man caught up in a major upheaval, is subtle, yet stirring, filmmaking. The final sequence set in present day Russia symbolizes so much about the loss of innocence and potential, and the director’s deliberate intent to not show the present day Lyapin character is devastating in its comment about the new Russia. Highly recommended. (Peter Krausz)
THE BANISHMENT
Andrei Zvyagintev achieved a great deal of acclaim for his previous film The Return, a quietly forceful observation of the impact a returning soldier and father of two sons had on them and his wife. The Banishment evokes a similarly subtle mood and pared back emotions/actions as a married couple and their children depart for the countryside. The film’s opening sequence indicates that all is not well, with a gunshot wound being treated, then the revelation of the wife’s pregnancy, and the allusive nature of her relationship with another man. This 155 minute film evokes a great deal of symbolism about contemporary Russian relationships, religious beliefs and urban and rural life. Yet all is not resolved satisfactorily, and the narrative appears somewhat stretched and tenuous at times. Despite the tragic nature of the plot developments there is a Brechtian distancing effect here which mitigates against any real compassion for any of the characters. In some respects this is both an interesting and repellant film, due to its disjointed narrative construction and its somewhat under explained climax. The subtle cohesiveness the film establishes turns into frustrating understatement and conflicted symbolism by the end. Nonetheless, recommended. (Peter Krausz)