Russian Ark

I'm not sure what to say about Russian Ark, mainly because I don't think I really understood it. I had a hard time distinguishing the different time periods. I couldn't really make sense of some of the rooms - sometimes it felt like he was just walking through a museum commenting on random pictures and talking to random people.

This film is very different from the montage technique we are used to seeing. This is probably the first film I've seen that is done entirely in one shot, which must have been difficult to accomplish. One major difference is that we see everything in real time. Instead of using a montage technique to show Marquis de Custine's (and the narrator's) journey through the museum, we actually follow him as he walks through it.

I would say that the atmosphere changes with each room the narrator enters. Some rooms are full of visitors all talking about the art work, other rooms only have a couple people in them. Towards the beginning, the narrator looks in a room as sees a man being abused, and in another room a man is building his own coffin. But at the end of the film there is a ball, and everyone is dancing and having a good time. There is a definite difference in the atmosphere from room to room.

The Return

When I think back on the movie The Return, the first thing that comes to mind is the color blue. There was water in almost every scene. The sky was always blue or gray, and it seemed to rain a lot.

You could have told me that this was a film by Tarkovsky and I wouldn't have known the difference. The influence Tarkovsky had on Zvyagintsev is obvious from the beginning. This film focuses a lot on the elements, much like Mirror. There is water everywhere - the boys live next to a lake (or ocean?), every time they stop to camp with their father they are by a body of water, and there are many scenes where it rains. Fire is in many scenes also, and there are a lot of shots of the wind blowing through fields. I also noticed the use of mirrors in a few scenes, like the father looking at Ivan in the back seat of the car through the rearview mirror. When Andrei went off to ask someone where they could find a restaurant, his father watches a woman walk past the car through the side and rear-view mirrors. Also, when the camera pans out through the woods at the end of the film, it is almost identical to the end of Mirror.

The area where The Return was shot looks much different from where Brother was shot. In Brother, St. Petersburg was very run-down and industrialized. But in The Return, the outskirts of St. Petersburg seem to be very calm and undisturbed.

I don't think the father is easy to describe. I still don't know what he came back to town for. It seems like he thinks he was doing his sons a favor by being so hard on them. He knows he isn't going to be around to raise them, so he wants them to have a few memories of him while he is visiting, even if they aren't really good ones. He knows that one day his sons will look back on their trip, and the way he treated him, and they will understand that he acted that way to make them stronger.

His sons seem to have very different reactions to his return. Ivan comes to hate the time he is spending with his father, and even says that if his father touches him again he will kill him. Andrei, however, will put up with his father to stay on his good side. I think Andrei has missed his father and will do anything he asks in hopes that he won't leave again. Andrei's relationship with his brother is also strained because of his father's return. Ivan does not understand why Andrei is so willing to obey their father.

I'm not sure what to make of the photos at the end though. They looked like they came from Andrei's camera, but a man in one of them (maybe the very last one) looked like it could have been a younger version of their father.

Brother

I'm not usually into mobster-type movies, but I really enjoyed Brother.

I found it odd that Danila had no problem murdering people, yet he never went back on his word when he told someone he wouldn't kill them. I think that shows that the gangster life he is living really isn't for him because most gang members will shoot anyone who gets in there way without thinking twice. He seems to downplay the fact that he was in the army, but that's obviously where he learned everything he knows about killing. But the reason he is different from the other mobsters is because he seems to have a conscience.

It seems that Danila would do anything for his older brother. He even forgives him for betraying him at the end of the movie, after he saves his life. Danila also seems to feel very strongly about the use of the word "brother". When he pulls a gun on the men in the train who refuse to pay the fee, one of them calls him brother, and he coldy replies, "you're not my brother". Also, at the end of the movie after he shoots Sveta's husband in the leg, her husband calls him brother. Once again, Danila says, "You're not my brother."

Music seems to be the only thing that is keeping Danila sane. He doesn't really seem to enjoy any other forms of entertainment (except getting stoned). When he goes out anywhere it is usually to a concert or a record store. Even when he watches television, it's a recording of a concert. Because Danila is caught up in the gang activity of his brother, he doesn't really get a chance to do things normal teenagers (young adults?) do, so listening to music is his way of staying connected with the normal outside world.

Little Vera

Little Vera is very different from the other movies we have watched. I didn't seem to center around the war or the Soviet regime as much as everything else we have watched did.

I noticed that the city where the family lives is very industrialized. Every time we are shown the skyline it is always full of pollution and identical apartments. I also can't recall a time in the movie where we see a shot that is just of nature - even when the family goes to the beach to get away for the day, their truck is in the background. The apartment Vera's family lives in is very small, much like the apartment Katya and Alexandra live in in Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears.

Just like in many other films we have watched, alcohol seems to be a big part of Vera's life. The family always drinks alcohol with dinner, mostly vodka, and Vera is left to care for her father when he has too much to drink.

I felt bad for Vera when Victor told her the only reason their father wanted a daughter was so he could get a bigger apartment. She was already in the middle of a meltdown, so I don't think her father should have told her that. But he does go to find her at the end of the scene before the family leaves, and we see him comforting her, which shows that he truly does love her.

The Commissar

When Commissar Klavdia first arrives at the home of the Mahazannik family, no one is very happy about her arrival. Yefim and the children strip the room of all their possessions, leaving the Commissar with almost nothing to sleep with. But after Yefim leaves for work the next morning, Maria and Klavdia have a discussion while they are eating breakfast. Maria starts to give Kladvia advice on how she should raise her baby, and the women start to form a bond.

The Mahazannik family seems to have a major influence on Kladvia. Both Maria and Yefim seem to be fairly happy people, despite everything they have been through. Kladvia sees that Maria is just a normal housewife whose life revolves around her children. We see how much see cares for them when she is washing her baby's face, and she calls him her "little angel". Yefim has the responsibility of keeping his wife and six children fed, yet he still sings on his way to work. Kladvia starts to sympathize with the family when she sees how difficult Communism and the war has made their lives.

I think that the way the Mahazannik children play is great indicator of the things they have witnessed in their lives. The scenes with the children playing is probably one reason this film was banned for so long, since it does not show the Communist Party in a very good light.

The Commissar was also a very artistic film. I noticed that the burning candle was shown many different times, often at different angles. We see it the first night Kladvia stays with the Mahazanniks, when she puts it out with her fingers. Many scenes either begin or end with a shot of the candle burning on the table. When the family is in the shelter and Yefim starts to sing and dance to distract the children, they dance around the table with the candle sitting on top of it. Also, while the family is dancing, we are shown only their hands, one person at a time, on a black background as they dance around in a circle.

I also noticed that when Kladvia is in labor, we are shown a flashback of soldiers in the desert and they are running until they get to a river, where they start drinking. Then there is a shot of Kladvia, who is still in labor, drinking a glass of water. Finally we see horses also running until they get to water.

I think that Kladvia leaves her baby with the Jewish family at the end because she wants to go back and fight with the Red Army, and knows her baby will be in good hands.

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears

Overall, I enjoyed this movie.

While the three girls who were roommates in the worker's dormitory all have some similar qualities, they are also very different. Lyudmila is the party animal out of the three. When Katya is asked to watch her uncle's apartment while he is away, it is Lyudmila's idea to have a party and pretend they are very rich and successful women. We do not really see too much of Tonya, except for when she gets married. She seems to be the most serious of the three women, and she settles down very early in her life. Katya is very easily influenced by the people around her. It does not take much convincing from Lyudmila to get Katya to agree to throw a party in her uncle's apartment. She does not know Rudolph for very long before he gets her pregnant. Also, Gosha is constantly reminding Katya that he is in charge of their relationship because he is the man in the family. But I think the main reason the three women are able to remain friends is because they have all come to Moscow looking for happiness.

Gosha and Rudolph are very interesting characters. When Katya tells Rudolph that she is pregnant, he tells her that she should have been more careful. He says he will not be around to help her raise her child because it is not his fault. Gosha is very sexist, and even leaves Katya when he finds out that she makes more money than he does. Gosha intrudes on the lives of Katya and Alexandra, and is constantly reminding Katya that he is in charge because he is the man in the family. I don't know if Katya is really in love with Gosha or not. I think she has just been lonely for so long that she does not mind the way Gosha has taken over her life.

Kidnapping Caucassian Style, or Shurik's New Adventures

I'm not really sure what to say about Kidnapping Caucassian Style, or Shurik's New Adventures. I thought that it was funny at times, and certainly compares to the kind of slapstick comedies that have been made in the U.S.

One thing I found interesting was the names of the three thugs, Booby, Coward, and Experienced. I thought their names fit them well, since one was an idiot, one was afraid of getting caught, and the other seemed to boss the rest of them around, like kidnapping was nothing new to him.

I also noticed that Comrade Saakhov, a government official, was the trouble maker in this movie. He abuses his power by having Nina kidnapped so he can marry her. I'm kind of surprised this movie was allowed to be shown, because Gaidai is obviously portraying the government in a bad light.

Mirror

Mirror is a very difficult film to understand. At times it seemed like shots were thrown into the movie randomly. I'm certain that nothing about this movie was random, I just don't know how to connect it all.

There were many things in this film that were shown repeatedly. One was the glass (or whatever it was) that kept falling off of the table. Another was that it was raining a lot of the time, like when the woman was running down the street to the newspaper factory. It is also raining inside the house when the woman is washing her hair. Tarkovsky also shows many people looking into mirrors. After the woman washes her hair in the basin, she looks in the mirror and sees an old woman. When she goes to her neighbor's house, the neighbor keeps looking at her earrings in the mirror everytime she passes by it. Even when she finally sits down, she holds up a small mirror to look at them. When Ignat is sitting in the neighbor's house he looks at himself in the mirror also. Finally, in one of the flashbacks, when the little boy is holding the big vase full of milk, the entire shot is a reflection in a mirror.

Something else I noticed was that after the man (I don't know any names, hopefully this isn't confusing) talks about how he was in love with a red-head who always had a blistered lip, Ignat is shown in the neighbors house and he appears to also have a blistered lip. I don't know what the connection between the two would be though, if there is one.

I noticed that there were many transitions between color and black and white, showing the past and the present. Some of the things shown didn't seem to have any connection with the rest of the film, like the clip of the men in the hot-air balloons. I also did not understand the scene with the Spanish people (the woman dancing and the man slapping her). I'm really looking forward to breaking some of the scenes apart tomorrow to get a better understanding of this film.

Ballad of a Soldier

I really enjoyed Ballad of a Soldier. It wasn't packed with propaganda like many of the other films we have watched, and I think this was mostly because it was made during the Khrushchev Thaw. Because of the Khrushchev Thaw, Chukhrai had a bit more freedom to focus on the story of the film and the message he wanted to get across, instead of having to incorporate a lot of propaganda.

A major difference I noticed between Ballad of a Soldier and other war films is that this movie focused more on the personal relationships of the characters and less on actual fighting scenes. When I found out we were watching a movie set during World War II, I figured it would be very action-packed and full of fighting scenes (and yes, there was plenty of action in this movie, just not the kind I expected). The only war scene we really see is right at the beginning when Alyosha is fighting the tanks.

Instead of many brutal war scenes we see development of the relationships between the characters. I think that Chukhrai decided to make a film like this to help people realize that soldiers are not machines, that they are human beings with thoughts and emotions whose lives (and families) are very much affected by war.

Alyosha seems to be a very caring person. Because he goes out of his way to help other people, the time he spends with his own mother (the whole reason he was on leave) is cut short. He helps Vasya, the man with one leg, get to the train by carrying his suitcase for him. Alyosha almost misses his train because he is too busy trying to comfort Vasya over the problem he is having with his wife. Alyosha also agrees to make an extra stop to see Sergei's fiancee, just to let her know that he is alive. When he discovers that Sergei's fiancee is cheating on him, he is outraged even though he doesn't know Sergei personally. Finally, Alyosha helps Shura. When the guard finds Shura on the train and is going to kick her off, Alyosha says that it's his fault and she shouldn't be kicked off because of him. He also sneaks Shura onto the war train by making her wear his coat and hat so she will not be recognized. Finally, when Alyosha is on the train with the Ukrainian family, we see him help them out of the train after it is bombed before he gets out himself. All of these things show what a caring and selfless person Alyosha is.

Even though Alyosha went out of his way to help other people, he got a lot of cold responses from people on the street. The morning after the train was bombed, people who pass Alyosha shove him, tell him to move, and call him good-for-nothing. He is able to get a ride to his house, but the man who drives him complains the entire time about how if he gets caught he will be in trouble. Even as Alyosha stands in the road hugging his mother, we can hear the impatient man honking the horn in the background.

I think another reason Ballad of a Soldier was made in a manner different from other war movies was to show how the lives of many young men were cut short by the war. Who knows what would have become of Alyosha if he hadn't been killed in battle.

Ivan the Terrible, Part I

I'm not sure that I would have been able to peg this film as Eisenstein's if I didn't know he directed it, but I did notice some similarities between Ivan the Terrible Part I and Battleship Potemkin. First of all, Eisenstein make a good use of shadows in this film just like he did in Battleship Potemkin. We often see the shadow of a person coming before we see the actual person, especially towards the end. There are also a few shots where the camera is fixed on a shadow, either of the globe or of Ivan's face. I also noticed that towards the end of the film when all of the people are walking towards Ivan when he is standing on the hill, Eisenstein made the line of people very thin so that it looks like it goes on forever. This reminded me of the line of people on their way to the funeral in Battleship Potemkin.

I can also see the influence that Japanese Kabuki theater had on Eisenstein's style. It is especially easy to see this style in the scene when Ivan gets out of his death bed and is stumbling around. All of his motions are very exaggerated. Also, all of the actors wore very extravagant clothing, which is common in Kabuki theater.

Ivan does seem to be similar to Stalin in that he wants to have every aspect of the country under his complete control. He does not seem to have the same paranoid attitude that Stalin did (or maybe it only seems that way to me because we've only seen the first part), but he definitely wants to be in control and has no problem eliminating a few people to keep his power.

I don't think that the Boyars were necessarily villains. You really can't blame them for hating Ivan because he wanted to take their land and all of their power.

Burnt by the Sun

I think this is the most interesting film we have watched so far. It was nice to see a movie portraying the real Soviet Russia, instead of how the Russians tried to appear to the rest of the world.

Also, I just have to say that Nadya was by far my favorite character out of all the movies we've watched so far. It's rare to find such a young actress who looks so natural in front of a camera, and she did an excellent job or depicting the happiness and innocence of a child.

In a postscript the film is dedicated to those "burnt by the sun" of the Revolution. Along with Nadya singing the song "Burnt by the Sun" repeatedly, there is a sun that floats around throughout the movie. I think it was easy to figure out that to be "burnt" meant to be killed, and that "the sun" was Stalin. When the sun floated through Kotov's dacha it was foreshadowing that someone was about to be "burnt by the sun", or killed by Stalin's men.

While Mitya obviously had political motives for arresting Kotov, I think he had personal reasons as well. He was jealous of Kotov because he was married to Marusia. When he talked to Marusia's relatives, he learned of how miserable she was after he left. Mityz realized that if he had stayed he would have married Marusia, and he would be the man with the happy family instead of Kotov. But I think that when Mitya commits suicide at the end of the movie, we see that he feels guilty for arresting Kotov and destroying his family.

I think that Burnt by the Sun was made for an international audience. There are many movies that were made during Soviet Russia that portray an ideal life and try to hide the horror of living in Russia during that time. I think the main reason Mikhalkov made this film was to show the rest of the world what living in Russia under Stalin was really like.

Circus

Overall, I really enjoyed Circus. I thought it was funny and well-put together. One thing that annoyed me about it was the subtitles. I know there was a disclaimer at the beginning saying that Marion's speech translated into broken English, but there were times when someone would be speaking and there were no subtitles at all because the timing was off.

I guess this movie did have a good message (about accepting Marion's black son, which surprised me since this movie was made so long ago), but there was some very obvious propaganda in it towards the end, especially how it ended in a big parade with everyone dresssed exactly the same.

I think I would place this movie between entertainment and propaganda in the art/entertainment/propaganda triangle because despite all of the propaganda towards the end, it was a pretty entertaining movie.

Chapaev

I think there are a couple of reasons why the movie Chapaev was so popular with the public. One reason is because it showed the Tsar’s army lose to the peasants, and most of the public could relate to it. This film was also very entertaining, and had a definite storyline and well developed characters, unlike some of the other films we have watched. We see how Chapaev interacts with his soldiers, not only as their commander, but also as their friend. This film also has a romantic side that is shown through Petka and Anka.

Something I noticed early on in Chapaev was that there is very little music, especially in the first half or so. Most of the music towards the end is the soldier’s singing. I think that the Vasilev brothers decided that showing the soldiers singing together instead of having music played in the background would really show the audience what a strong bond the men had with each other.

Man with the Movie Camera

I thought the most striking thing about this movie was the music. It really seemed to tell the story. I especially liked the scene with the wedding march, and how it was played normally when the marriage certificate was shown, but the music changed ( to minor?) when the divorce certificate was shown. I also thought it was interesting how Vertov kept switching between marriage, divorce, birth, and death, portraying the ups and downs of life.

The only real character in the movie is the man carrying around the camera. Another character would be the society as a whole.

There was also a very different use of montage in this film. Not only does Vertov use the same type of montage as Eisenstein by switching very rapidly between scenes, but he also superimposes images on top of each other, where we are actually seeing more than one scene at one time.

Battleship Potemkin

The first thing I noticed in Battleship Potemkin that was different from the three silent films we watched yesterday is that there were a lot more intertitles. I think this is because this movie is longer and goes into more detail than the other three, so the audience is given more dialogue. Also, because Eisenstein uses montage, the audience is able to get a better idea of what is going on from many different angles, instead of watching a long scene where the camera angle never changes.

The music in Battleship Potemkin was also much better than the music in the three silent films from yesterday. It seemed to follow the drama in the story more than the music in the other films did.

Another thing I noticed about this film is that there is a huge focus on the message Eisenstein is trying to convey. There does not seem to be any personal drama, and we do not get to know any of the characters very well. Instead, they are mostly seen as large crowds, like the men on the ship, or the citizens on the Odessa steps. Because Eisenstein does not allow us to get to know any of the characters individually, we are forced to focus on the message of the film.

Russians are not big on happy endings.

One thing I've noticed in all the films we've watched so far is that none of them have the happy endings we are used to seeing in Western films.

In Irony of Fate, or Enjoy your Bath! Zhenya and Nadya do end up together, so I guess it is a happy ending for them. But what about Ippolit and Galya? They are certainly not to blame for Zhenya's mistake, but they are both dumped so that Zhenya and Nadya can be together.

The three silent films we watched today also had strange endings. In A Child of the Big City, the man who falls in love with Mary, Viktor, ends up dead by the end of the movie, and we see Mary step over his body as she is leaving the building. In The 1002nd Ruse, the wife gets away with cheating on her husband by hiding another man in her house. Finally, at the end of The Dying Swan, the crazy artist who is obsessed with Giselle ends up killing her.

In a way, the endings of these films are more realistic than the usual happy endings we are used to. More often than not, someone is going to be hurt or even killed because of the actions of someone else.