darii73 Reviews

Mama vyshla zamuzh (1970)

Soviet working class existential drama? You bet!

[9/10 · 18 July 2009]

A sublime, exceptionally well acted film about a single working class mother and her teenage son. She finds a man and marries him, her son is jealous and full of hot air at first but comes to understand her in the end. That's all. The simplicity of the story notwithstanding, this is one of the most sincere and lyrical films to have been produced in the 1960s-1970s Soviet Union. Very realistic, too, showing the life as it was then. Lyusyena Ovchinnikova is superb, it is this film that makes one realize what a wonderful and under-appreciated actress she was. Nikolay Burlyayev is very good as a lanky teenager, the final scene with him carrying a glass of carbonated water for his mother is stunning. Oleg Efremov is very convincing as a working class man who found his happiness at last.

The Long Farewell (1971)

A great achievement

[10/10 · 27 July 2007]

This film is an existential drama par excellence, and watching it is almost a transformative experience. Yet there are no dreamlike sequences or other hallmarks of this genre here. It looks like a typical family drama about a mother who can't bear her son leave her to go away and live with his father, who abandoned them long ago. But the dialogue is often repetitive to the point of being downright nonsensical, and Muratova creates such a profoundly melancholic atmosphere that one comes to realize that the characters exist on the verge of death, in a disjointed world where no meaningful action is possible. Zinaida Sharko, a great theatre actress, gives a performance of her life: a domineering, yet defenseless, mother whose life is about to unravel. The final scene is carefully optimistic: choice is possible after all, the son will probably stay with his mother. Sharko in this scene goes beyond "good acting": she shows a momentary leap from ultimate despair back to life.

Kira Muratova proves that she is one of the most talented and original filmmakers ever. 10/10

A City of Sadness (1989)

The greatest film of "The Greater China" cinema

[10/10 · 27 July 2007]

Simply one of the best films ever made and certainly the best to have come out of China, Taiwan or Hong Kong. Forget about traumatic Taiwanese history, forget about other "epic" films from mainland China, or Taiwan, or Hong Kong. This one is one of the most profound statements about human condition and the relentless power of history. You can physically feel the winds of history blowing through a small hospital in the mountains, or a house of the person who will succumb to the inevitable, or a railway car caught in the middle of a massacre. Hou Hsiao-Hsien doesn't reconstruct history, he shows you human beings caught unawares and unable to cope with a totally unexpected avalanche of events destined to change their lives. Acting is superb, the mute character played by Tony Leung Chiu Wai (who, quite prosaically, couldn't speak Hokkien and had to be made mute) will haunt you for a very long time. One of the most underrated films from one of the most underrated directors. Spend two and a half hours of your life watching this, it's worth it. 10 out of 10.