Day Sixteen, or How Sappy Equals Happy!

In Peter FM, a radio DJ and a architect share a interesting relationship of almost meeting each other as the architect tries to return the DJ's missing cell phone. This movie was the happiest film we have watched this year, and that even includes The Irony of Fate. After 3 weeks of neutral to unhappy films, this film was a fresh change of pace, even if the ending left something to be desired.

I commend the film for skipping out on the cliche that the two are just going to instantly meet and fall in love. It seems more like they may be destined for a good friendship, at least until the ending scene. Also, the ending..... maybe it was just me, but I feel that the ending was just rushed, even more rushed then the characters who seem to spend a good time of the movie running from place to place, frantically trying to meet each other.

I enjoyed Masha as character very much. She seemed down to earth, but at the same time also seemed to still have her inner child, if the scene at the gate is any indication. The rest of the characters, in particular Maxim, were just a boor to me. The cinematography was neat in how the camera was able to at times make it feel like this was almost more a movie about the city then about these two individuals.

Also, Masha is surrounded by loving couples in every place she goes. I think it makes her want love, but she doesn't want the kind of love that her fiance was giving to her.

Day Fifteen, or How Day Fourteen Became Irrelevant!

Congratulations to The Return, for several reasons. First, it is the only movie I have had in this class where I have hated all, yes all, of the main characters. The father is a flatout a**hole, Ivan is an unreasoning little vagrant, and Andrey is naive and ignorant. Second, it is the only movie that I have found myself continually calling it by a name other then the name it actually has. I keep wanting to call this movie The Island, which is a disgrace to any movie taking place on, near, or about an island, including Lost, The Island, and Gilligan's Island.

Now that I've complained about everything I hated about this movie, let me talk about what I enjoyed from this movie. The plotline was actually really good, and it did a great job of showing how time can alienate anyone from their family. The only thing that upset me about the plot was the fact that there were, hmm i don't know, about 20 RED HERRINGS ALL RELATING TO THE FATHER!!!!! Maybe it was just me wanting no rock left unturned, but I wanted to know everything! As for imagery, the island was so beautiful, and seemed to hold so many secrets that the movie barely brushed upon. I personally felt like it might have been possible that the island was some sort of demilitarized navy base, and they left barely anything behind.

Day Thirteen, or How the Sounds of the 1980's Were the Same Everywhere!

It's funny how you lose track of time when you get sick. Anyway...Little Vera. I liked the soundtrack of this movie. It was interesting to hear a contemporary soundtrack for one of our movies. It really helped establish this movie as a movie in late 80's Russia. Sometimes I think this movie was more about the time that the movie took place in then the characters themselves. Noting that, I in particular liked the imagery of the movie. The overarching themes of decay and disrepair are constant in this film. The beached ship, the dock area, the playground next to the train track, they all add up to make a film that shows that people survived in whatever life threw at them, even if it was not the most pleasant of surroundings.

As for the characters, the relationship between Sergei and Vera upset me, because jerks should not get the girl. Actually, all of Vera's relationships with men, minus her family, are tragic. It seems that men are just out to use her. This movie also had an interesting perspective on the father. His drinking problem is mentioned throughout the film, even during the times (and there were actually a decent amount of times) where he was sober. His drinking makes him lose his calm and reverts him to an almost useless state, like a toddler. No one says he is an alcoholic, they just say that they wish he didn't drink as much.

Day Twelve, or How the Movie Title Lied to Me!

There were a lot of tears in Moscow. In fact, I think every woman minus Alexandra cried during this movie. Moscow may not believe in tears, but that does not mean they do not happen anyway!

I found this movie interesting, even if it was a bit on the long side. Another movie that relies more on character development then flashy cinematography, the story did feature a lot of interesting characters. I think the character I found the most interesting was the witty Lyudmila, who after all her hard work of trying to find a good man just could not catch a break. I did not understand the significance of why the men they were looking for had to be Moscow natives. Love is love, it should not matter where they are from.

I also enjoyed watching the characters during the two time periods. The characters were different and interesting, yet did not fall into general stereotypes. It was also interesting that we were able to find out so much about the characters from the dialogue that occurred between them. If fifteen years can lapse in a movie and the viewers can still understand what has happened, the is a success in my eyes.

Day Eleven, or How War is Bittersweet!

War is always such an interesting subject for movies, because there are so many stories that can come out of a war-time scenario. Ballad of a Soldier is an example of one of those many stories. For once in a long time, we have watched a movie that does not focus on camera angles.  This movie is meant to amplify the good of Russian soldiers by showing that even if it causes them self-sacrifice (Alyosha is barely able to spend any time with his mother.) the soldiers are truly shining examples of their people.

This story is more then one man's journey back home though. The reason this movie is popular to many
(including yours truly) is because it has a theme that everyone can relate to: the desire to return home. Everyone wants to return to where they came from...whether it be the man who sends his wife soap, the girl going to live with her aunt, or the wounded man returning to his wife. We all want to go home, but things come up that change that for us. We can only try our best to return to the ones we love, and hope that is enough.

Day Ten, or How Art is Beautiful!

Maybe it is just because I like bizarre, but I really did like The Mirror. It had some of the most beautiful shots that we have seen this term. For me, there is some strange pull to when a movie uses black and white, but has access to color. Some of my favorite scenes from the movie were the ones that were in black and white. The first dream sequence with the water, followed by the woman's trip to work, were beautifully shot pieces. At first I thought that the sequence where the woman goes to work was a dream at first, because when the one woman dissappears to go find her boss, she goes through the door, then appears right back with the boss, instantly. The reason I think that this is a dream because we don't remember time lapse in our dreams, just the events that occur.

Speaking of that woman, she was an absolutely fascinating character for me to watch. It seems that she is non-aging, but that is just because the man just sees his mother and his ex-wife as the same person, for some reason. It makes it hard to tell who is who at times, and I would normally be upset by this trickery, but the way it is explained in the film is that because they act the same way, they can be portrayed the same way. I hate her bi-polar coworker. My favorite single shot involved her. It had her (in the present) moving back and forth between brightness and darkness, and this shot of her going from light to dark just helped for some reason to enhance her as a character for me.

Day Nine, or How Historical Epics Lack Both History or Epicness!

I am just going to say it so that it is out of the way: I do not like this film. I like Eisenstein, but I do not like this film. While the acting is good, the characters are portrayed in a boring and unrealistic manner. The characters, besides Ivan himself, are dull and uninspired. In terms of theme though, this does actually portray Soviet Realism quite well. Ivan's goal of unifying Russia under one leadership is a very Socialist goal.

There were two things I did like though. One, I thought the film had some very beautiful imagery that it used. In that sense, I can consider this piece a work of art. But like all art, it is in the eye of the beholder. The other thing I liked was the siege of Kazan. Battle scenes are fun, especially when done right. Luckily this movie did them right, and were very entertaining to watch.

Day Eight, or How We Did the Time Warp Again!

So in order to portray a movie about the evils of 1930's Soviet Russia, we need to be in the 1990's Russian Federation....interesting. Burnt by the Sun felt almost like a Ruskaland version of a Quintin Tarentino film. This film was very heavy on dialogue and the use of visual imagery to get it's message of the horrors of Stalinist Russia across. I particularly loved the characters interactions with each other. I felt really bad for the poor truck driver, he just wanted to deliver his goods.

I thought that the floating sun was a particularly emotional imagery. It served not only to reinforce the title of the movie, but to also help to show the effects that Stalin's reign of terror was causing. As you watch the appearances of the orb, you can notice the sound of things burning. At one point, you actually see a picture crack. When this picture is shown later in the film, there is no visible crack, which helps to establish that the orb is more of a feeling then an actual entity.

Day Seven, or How I Found Racial Equality at the Circus!

Circus, what is there to say about this movie? I actually really enjoyed this movie, even if at times I was just like "..........no way." There was a lot of diegetic music in this movie, almost to the point where it felt like there was not any non-diegetic music. I noticed that there was a cross in Marion's make-up box, and that she also did the sign of the cross before her performance. I found that very interesting, since religion was pretty much non-existent within the USSR.

As for the characters, everyone seems to be emotionally...easy. People get very upset over things, but can calm down with a single sentence? At one point it seems that Ivan is super upset at Marion, but with one sentence becomes like a kid in a candy store. Also, why does everyone feel the right to pass around Marion's child like he is a really cool book? I've heard the phrase "It takes a village to raise a child." but it is just really really ridiculous.


I could feel the Soviet influences in this movie. The biggest parts that stuck out to me both came from the end of the movie. The Soviet pride parade at the end was my biggest indication. The other one I noticed, and I thought was much cooler, was the last song that Marion sung. The song was something about the winds of change in October, obviously a reference to the October Revolution.

And remember, in Soviet Russia, we accept everyone, even purple with flowers!

Day Six, or How War is Portrayed in Movies!

Hmm, where do I start with Chapaev? In the words of my heritage professor, "Start at the beginning." Sounds good enough for me. The first thing I noticed in this film is that a lot of people like to run away. I think I counted at least 3 separate times when Chapaev's forces tried to run away during battle. Next thing I noticed was the differences between Chapaev and Furmanov. Furmanov seemed to be almost a foil for Chapaev, because he was young, soft with the troops, and in military terms inexperienced in comparison to the old (or at least war-torn) firm with the troops, and military-experienced Chapaev.

In terms of why this movie is more successful then Battleship Potemkin, I think I have the answer. That answer is heroes. In Battleship, there really are no "heroes." It tells a good story, but people have trouble getting behind a large group of people. In Chapaev, it is very easy for everyone to get behind Chapaev. He is essentially a Russian G.I. Joe. If I have learned anything from G.I. Joe, knowing is half the battle, and Ruskaland knows that heroes equal blockbusters.

Day Five, or How My Brain is Full of Confusion!

So...... somebody in Ruskaland allowed Dziga Vertov the right to make a movie. He decided that he was just going to film a whole bunch of random stuff with no idea of a plot line in his head. He then gives all the footage he films to his wife and tells her "make it make sense." The result is The Man With a Movie Camera. So one of the most important things for me in a movie is that the plot is good, or if not good, at least sensible. This movie is neither. It's a movie that shows you a metric ton of random footage and refuses to give you anything to try to make sense of it all other then a few lines of writing at the beginning of the film which might as well just say "The following movie makes no sense. Enjoy." The only way I can describe the way I felt watching this movie is like when your aunt shows you all the home videos she and Uncle Fred made during their Branson trip, but somehow the VCR eats the footage and plays the movies in a random order. That is how my brain felt.

I understand that this movie was trying very hard to be something experimental and unique. I know that this movie also wants to be groundbreaking. On those fronts I think it succeeds. I like art films, the stuff that isn't always mainstream, I really do. The problem is though, this movie just does have anything truly interesting for me to watch. The film uses interesting camera angles from time to time, and also shows some "odd" special effects. (Bartender, there is a cameraman in my drink) Overall though, this movie just does not have the things I am looking for in a good movie. Sadly not every experiment is a success.

Day Four, or How the Russians Made War Look Awesome!

So anyone remember me saying yesterday that the music from the three silent films was the best I had heard in a long time? I take it back. Battleship Potemkin wins. Honest to goodness I had several moments I just wanted to get up and yell "FIRE" during the movie, especially the final scenes. I found it really really really cool how they incorporated the sounds into the movie so well. I think it helps to make some of the scenes even more powerful. A good example of this would be when one of the officers was climbing all over the piano, they had the soundtrack sound like someone stepping on the piano, then they even included the gunshot!


I also have noticed two very big differences from the rest of the silent films we have watched. The first one was  the amount of actors in the film. There were what felt like literally thousands of actors on screen during some of the moments. Also, I spied with my little eye........COLOR! If this movie was an annoying commenter on a Youtube video, it would deserve the honor of posting "FIRST!" because in all honesty, this film has in my opinion marked a monumental moment in cinema history. Ruskaland should be proud to have made this fantastic movie. Which leads me to taking back what I said about not being able to enjoy silent films because of lack of dialogue. I can.

Day Three, or How I Began to Miss Audio!

I can only start this out by saying that I have never watched a silent film before, so it was an entirely new experience for me. I found the movies by the Lumiere brothers to be actually quite enjoyable. I found myself greatly enjoying these films for some reason, even though there was nothing in terms of plot development. I think my enjoyment of those films stemmed from the fact that they were "pure". Unedited with no signs of tampering or effects. They were exactly what the camera saw. They were like looking into a world completely unlike our own.

In regards to the other silent films we watched....wow. It was surprising to see how much infidelity existed in Russian cinemas, especially at the time they were produced. It seemed like everyone was cheating on their lovers. It was also really interesting to hear the soundtrack, aka the piano parts. I would have to say that they were easily some of my favorite musical soundtracks I have heard in a long time. It is really quite fascinating how much this music adds to the movies. I do not think overall I will be enjoying the films a whole lot. I am a person who likes to hear the dialogue that characters say, and when I cannot hear that dialogue I find a movie unenjoyable, and you know, since silent films are SILENT!!!! Then I will sadly not hear dialogue.

Day Two, or How I Learned to Leave my Lover in One Day!

Even in Ruskaland the lies of sudden love exist. I refuse to accept that both Daniel Craig (Zhenya) and Nadya would both leave their respective lovers over the course of a single night! Poor poor Ippolit, he is exactly right in how he feels as the night progresses. Only in Soviet Russia would a man wear full clothing in the shower, and also use straw to wash himself. I did enjoy this movie, but it really started to annoy me at the same time. If there is anything that high school has taught me about relationships, it's that you can only go hot and cold for so long on someone before the feelings just become cold. That limit apparently does not exist in Ruskaland.

There were a few things that I found interesting/bothered me in the movie. First, why does everyone just seem to walk or drive on the river like it's a common way to move around in winter? Second, in part 2 there was a camera shot that for a few seconds was just extremely low quality in comparison to the rest of the movie. Third, if Daniel Craig remembers his bag several times, how does he forget it when he finally leaves Nadya's house? Finally, why does no one seem bothered that Zhenya has left his almost fiance for a woman he met the night before?

Also, how many of you noticed the similarities between the final two scenes and the bathhouse scene? I noticed at least 4 similarities, and I would love to see if you guys found any more.

Day One, or How I Love Subtitles!

For the next month I plan to write down my opinions of various films within the Russian Film Industry (or as it will be referred to from now on, Ruskaland.) For the first day, I shall talk about my opinion of the first half of The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!  The first thing I will admit is that the title of this film makes me giggle like a twelve year old boy everytime I think of it. The second thing I think is that this film would not make any sense if it were not for the presence of the omniscient narrator at the beginning of the film. In my opinion this narrator takes away from the feeling that films are supposed to carry you away into a far away land of make believe where anything is possible.  When someone has to explain to you what is happening just to make this make believe land a reality, it detracts from my personal experience, but like I said earlier it is needed for this movie to make sense. Quite a catch-22 if you ask me.

As for the general analysis of the movie, I have reached the official verdict that drunken Russian people are hilarious. This film is not a laugh out loud funny like something along the lines of say Superbad or Get Him to the Greek, but that does not take away from the humor of this film. The magic of Ruskaland is that the film is funny because of situational humor and the clever use of dialogue. The conversation between Zhenya and Nadya when she first discovers him in her apartment is priceless. Overall I am enjoying this movie quite a lot, and I am excited to see how it ends.