Change Your Image
ybelov
Reviews
Karnaval (1982)
Both funny and sad. Irina Muravyova at her best.
Nina Solomatina, a naive girl from a provincial town, comes to Moscow hoping to enter a theatre institute and become an actress. The reality, such as suffering from an unrequited love and the need to earn a living, brings her back to earth but also makes her stronger.
The film includes many memorable musical acts, in which Nina plays the leading part. These are her dreams, but we believe that one day they will come true...
I especially like the scene when Nina, in the last minute, has to stand in for a roller-skating bear! One can't help laughing to see the resulting mess, but in reality the act has been carefully planned and masterfully executed.
Another interesting ingredient of the film is a Gypsy family who accommodates Nina at the first night in Moscow and helps her out later on. Of course, they will also sing and dance!
The film stars well-known Soviet actors: Irina Muravyova, Yuri Yakovlev and Aleksandr Abdulov.
It reminds me of "Koroleva benzokolonki" (1963), where main character also dreams of becoming an actress and skates on rollers, but the plot of the Carnival it is less ideological and much more realistic. It has also parallels with "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" (1980).
The film is not a masterpiece and, especially in first the part, some scenes could be shorter. Nevertheless, it definitely worth seeing by those who are interested in the Soviet reality and cinema.
Dom durakov (2002)
Masterpiece!
I saw this film yesterday and I'm still under the impression. It was overwhelming. All is brilliant -- plot, acting, images, music...
Certainly, there are motifs from other films -- "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (for example, the episode when the inmate break out of the asylum), "Dancer in the Dark" (the dreams of Janna) -- but they are organically interwoven in the canvass of Konchalovsky's film.
This oeuvre, like other films by Andrei Konchalovsky, is a result of a happy amalgamation, a synthesis of Western and Russian cinema traditions, which does not happen often.
The film is profoundly artistic and at the same time realistic. This is achieved not least by a careful choice of details. For example, in the background, in the TV screen, you see Boris Yeltsin, the Russian ex-President who started this dirty war, and his corrupt Minister of Defence Pavel Grachov ("Pasha Mercedes").
The verbal language is also true to life. The personages, in particular the Russian military, use quite a few of Russian 'four-letter words', and here the use of such words is fully justified.
I saw the films in a DVD edition (Paramount Classics, 2003) and the only disappointment was the subtitles. The English translation is sometimes too inexact and leaves too much dialogue untranslated. This needs to be corrected in the subsequent edition.
Of course, the best is to see the film in Russian. But even if you do not speak Russian, try to see this film, because it is a masterpiece of a universal value, which transcends the language barriers. Watch it with an open mind.
I wish that all Russians had the chance too see 'The House of Fools'. Then, probably, their perception of the Chechen people would change for the better, and it would also bring them to a reflection about the war in the Caucasus, which is both Russia's crime and illness, and how the country could overcome it.
Thank you Mr. Konchalovsky, thank you all who made this excellent film! 10/10
Amerikanka (1997)
Worth seething for all those interested in Russia / ex-USSR.
The experiences of a teenage boy growing without parents in a backwater Soviet town in the 1970s. A realistic picture of the Soviet school. The title refers to a teenage game of betting (there's nothing American in the film).